


Dissociate

by SinofSloth



Category: Marvel, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Mutants, Attempted Rape/Non-Con, BAMF Matt Murdock, BAMF Midoriya Inko, BAMF Midoriya Izuku, BAMF Natasha Romanov, BAMF Toga Himiko, Bakugou Katsuki Redemption, Bakugou Katsuki Swears A Lot, Bakugou Katsuki is Bad at Feelings, Blood Drinking, Body Horror, Body Modification, Consensual Underage Sex, Eldritch Midoriya Izuku, Eventual Pro Hero Matt Murdock, Except in the Opposite, F/M, Genderfluid Midoriya Izuku, Good Parent Midoriya Inko, Hatsume Mei is a Good Friend, He can't help it, Hydra (Marvel), I'm Bad At Tagging, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Marvel Cameos, Mental Instability, Midoriya Izuku Adopts Eri, Midoriya Izuku Eats People, Midoriya Izuku Has Multiple Personalities, Midoriya Izuku Has One for All Quirk, Midoriya Izuku Has Self-Esteem Issues, Midoriya Izuku Has a Quirk, Midoriya Izuku Needs Therapy, Midoriya Izuku Swears, Midoriya Izuku Tries, Midoriya Izuku has DID - Dissociative Identity Disorder, Midoriya Izuku is Bad at Feelings, Midoriya Izuku is Legion (Marvel), Midoriya Izuku is Not Okay, Midoriya Izuku is a Mutant, Morally Grey Midoriya Izuku, Mutant Rights, Mutual Pining, Natasha Romanov Has Issues, Natasha Romanov Is a Good Bro, Natasha Romanov Joins SHIELD, Not Beta Read, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Overpowered Midoriya Izuku, Parental Midoriya Izuku, Past Child Abuse, Powered-Up Quirks, Quirk Discrimination (My Hero Academia), Quirkless Matt Murdock, Sensei | All For One is Midoriya Hisashi, Serious Injuries, Spy Midoriya Izuku, Stands (JoJo), Super Soldier Serum (Marvel), Sweet Toga Himiko, Toga Himiko Goes to U.A. High School, Toga Himiko is a Good Friend, Torture, U.A. Has a Traitor (My Hero Academia), Vampire Toga Himiko, Violent Thoughts, eventually at least - Freeform, he doesn't get it
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-14
Updated: 2021-03-03
Packaged: 2021-03-08 08:48:29
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 7
Words: 45,918
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26849188
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SinofSloth/pseuds/SinofSloth
Summary: Izuku Midoriya doesn't like lying, but only he can know the truth beneath the lies. He says he has a Quirk, but he doesn't. Maybe if he did then he wouldn't have to be a good liar. He doesn't hate his powers—far from it—but they're unpredictable and he hates that. He wants to become a hero, but his powers do more harm than good.He doesn't know what they are or why he has them. All he knows is that they are dangerous and he shouldn't use them, even if it means he'll never be a hero.But light shines in the darkest of places. And, with the belief and support of those who believe in him, Izuku is going to become the greatest hero the world has ever known.Natasha Romanov has been fighting for her entire life; it's all she knows. When she's saved by a green-haired boy with a heart of gold and a cloud of misery not unlike hers, she feels conflicted. She isn't quite sure how to help him, but she'll be damned if she lets him end up like her.Himiko Toga is a misunderstood girl with a "villainous" Quirk and a troubled past that she wants to leave behind. But that is easier said than done. Hopefully, the devil-man can help her out.If only it were that easy.
Relationships: Asui Tsuyu & Midoriya Izuku, Eri & Jirou Kyouka, Eri & Midoriya Inko, Eri & Midoriya Izuku, Eri & Toga Himiko, Hatsume Mei & Midoriya Izuku, Jean Grey & Midoriya Izuku, Jean Grey & Ororo Munroe, Jirou Kyouka & Midoriya Inko, Jirou Kyouka & Midoriya Izuku, Jirou Kyouka/Midoriya Izuku, Kodai Yui & Midoriya Izuku, Kodai Yui & Yanagi Reiko, Matt Murdock & Toga Himiko, Midoriya Hisashi & Midoriya Izuku, Midoriya Inko & Midoriya Izuku, Midoriya Inko & Toga Himiko, Midoriya Izuku & Natasha Romanov (Marvel), Midoriya Izuku & Sensei | All For One, Midoriya Izuku & Toga Himiko, Midoriya Izuku & Uraraka Ochako, Midoriya Izuku & Yanagi Reiko, One-Sided Kodai Yui/Midoriya Izuku, Past Midoriya Inko/Sensei | All For One, Slight Midoriya Izuku/Toga Himiko, past Midoriya Hisashi/Midoriya Inko
Comments: 28
Kudos: 161





	1. Heart of a Hero

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is my first attempt at a crossover and my first fanfic on this website. Constructive criticism is encouraged, flames are not.
> 
> Read and enjoy.

Izuku Midoriya was born with a 'Quirk'. A powerful, flashy, dangerous, unpredictable Quirk.

But he was a late bloomer. _Very_ late. Suffice to say, he found out just how fickle children really are, and how cruel they can be. His "best friend" was the worst. Izuku could take the other kids' insults, but Katsuki was a different story. His former childhood friend was always confident, but after receiving his Quirk, that changed. He became cruel, arrogant and borderline narcissistic. No one was safe from him, especially the 'Quirkless' loser.

The first time time he went home with bruises, he couldn't stop crying, and it took his mother more than an hour to calm him down enough to talk. He still didn't tell her what really happened though; he didn't want to get Kacchan in trouble.

Izuku was four when he first lied to his mother. He was four when he lost his friends, but he held on to the hope that he would get them back when he developed his Quirk. It was foolish, but his childish mind wanted to believe it.

Izuku was five when he finally accepted that Katsuki wasn't his friend anymore. He was five when he stopped trying to follow him in the vain hope of repairing their once unshakeable friendship.

Izuku was a smart child. A natural genius some might say. He learnt faster than anyone else his age, but he never tried to do more than he had to because Kacchan had to be the best. Even when he accepted the harsh reality, Kacchan always won.

Izuku was six when his Quirk first showed itself. He was six when he realised what he could do. He should have been ecstatic.... but he wasn't. Every time he thought about his Quirk, he remembered the scar his mother now bore, and how _he_ was the one who caused it. When they went to the Quirk specialist several days later, they were told that his Quirk was one that needed something to trigger it. He knew it had nothing to do with a trigger, but he didn't say anything. He knew exactly what caused it to happen, and the thoughts and feelings he had the night of the incident were still fresh on his mind. His mother had long forgiven him, but he hadn't. He couldn't bring himself to do that.

He just couldn't.

It was a Quirk with many uncertainties and even more unknowns. It was a transformation type Quirk, the doctor told them. Izuku didn't refute his statement. He couldn't. Not when he wasn't even sure himself. His mother was so happy too; happier than he had ever remembered seeing her. He couldn't bear to break her smile with the truth. So he lied.

That was the first time he lied to someone new and the second time he lied to his mother.

The next day, Izuku didn't say anything to his classmates about him having a Quirk. Being truthful felt liberating, but he knew it wouldn't last.

Izuku was seven when he used his power a second time. He was seven when he was writing in his hero analysis notebook and got a paper-cut. It was surprising how little it hurt. It took him several seconds to realise he had used it, and even then he only noticed when he blinked and he was staring into a mirror. His hair was white and his eyes were blue—just like last time. It only lasted a second, but he knew that something had happened. He just wasn't sure what.

That was the second time Izuku lost control.

That was also when he realised his power changed more than just his appearance.

Izuku was a smart boy. Sometimes too smart.

He never understood why his father wasn't around anymore at first. He could vaguely remember silvery hair and grey eyes, but that was all. Every time he asked his mother, she always deflected the question and told him not to worry. He didn't really believe her, but it was his mother, so he just accepted it. The truth was, Izuku didn't really care much about his father. He had left them after all. He was curious, but it wasn't anything more than that. The man who had caused his mother so much pain was not his father. As far as Izuku was concerned, he only had one parent and that was all he would ever need.

It wasn't until late that night Izuku realised he hadn't actually seen his mother sad. He wanted to feel happy about it, but every time he thought about it, he felt like there was a crushing weight pressing against his chest. It made him want to cry. Scream. Do _anything_ to not feel the pain anymore.

_He didn't understand what was happening to him._

Izuku was eight when his second power appeared, even though he didn't realise it. He was eight when he decided that he hated his powers, but he didn't know why.

Izuku was ten when he met his second mentor, Natasha Romanov. He was ten when he met his first friend in years and subsequently saved her life.

Izuku didn't know what to do when he found an unconscious red-haired girl bleeding out in an alleyway. He was a child and he was scared, but he knew she was in trouble. She was losing blood and she was barely breathing and _he couldn't just leave her_. He was panicked and he didn't know what to do, and that's when it happened.

His power activated on its own.

But there was something different about it. For the brief moment he remained conscious, he saw his skin glow.

When he lost all control of his body, the only thing he could do was hope that whatever he did had worked. Even after he woke up alone and the girl was long gone, he still wondered if she was okay.

It wasn't until several days later that he met her again, and gained a new trainer.

That day, when he went home with bruises covering almost every square-inch of his body, he was smiling. His smile turned even brighter when he realised the bruises were gone by the time he opened the door.

Izuku was ten when his third ability appeared. He was ten when he accepted that he wasn't normal. But he decided that maybe whatever he might be wasn't so bad after all.

He never did tell anyone about the voices, though.

* * *

Izuku scribbled absentmindedly in his notebook titled Hero Analysis for the Future #13 as he waited for his class to end. As he wrote about the hero fight he saw earlier in the day, he couldn't help it as his mind started to drift off. His powers were still something that he didn't understand even now. Frost was the only one he used semi-regularly, so it was easier for him to stay in control. Still, if he couldn't get it under control, then there was going to be i–

"–yeah, didn't Midoriya want to go to U.A. too?"

Izuku snapped out of his thoughts and paused in his writing with a soft sigh.

He moved his notebook just in time for Katsuki to slam his hands onto the desk, palms already crackling with explosions. Izuku looked up at the blond boy impassively, "Bakugo," he tilted his head slightly to the side, "Do you need something?"

Katsuki growled angrily, "Yeah, I do. Don't apply to U.A," he said through gritted teeth, "Forget about these extras. There's no way they'd accept a _Quirkless_ loser like you."

Izuku levelled his gaze calmly at Katsuki, his eyes flashing blue before he did, "Actually, there are no rules against Quirkless applicants trying out. Besides, I won't know unless I try, will I?"

Katsuki glared at him even more furiously and opened his mouth to retort before the teacher interrupted him.

"Katsuki, that's enough. Go back to your seat."

The blond glared menacingly at Izuku one more time before he made his way back to his seat. Izuku released a barely audible sigh of relief once the Explosion user had gone.

_"Overcompensating. Arrogance. Inferiority. Fear. Target insecurities to **Break**."_

"Shut up," Izuku whispered with a frown, "Just please _shut up_. Leave me alone."

When the school bell rang, Izuku was startled from his thoughts. Checking his watch, Izuku cursed under his breath when he saw that school had technically ended three full minutes ago. He hurriedly packed his backpack, but before he could pack his Hero analysis notebook, it was grabbed from his desk.

Blinking in surprise, Izuku looked up to see Katsuki grinning down at him smugly with the notebook held in his hand.

Izuku levelled his gaze at Katsuki, eyes flashing blue, and bit out with barely contained annoyance, "Give it back, Bakugo."

Katsuki smirked at him and his lackeys laughed condescendingly, "I don't think so." He took a glance at the book in his hand, "Hero Analysis for the Future? Ha! As if a Quirkless _Deku_ like you could become hero." He set off an explosion in his palm, burning the book in his grasp before throwing it out of a window.

"But, if you actually want to become a hero, I have a suggestion," Katsuki's smile became even more menacing, "Why don't you take a swan dive off the roof and hope that you get a Quirk in the next life!" With that, the blond boy left with his followers, cackling all the while.

Izuku was frozen in shock staring after Katsuki as he left the classroom. The blond wanted to be a hero.... and he had just told Izuku to kill himself. Katsuki always boasted about becoming the best hero and yet he always did the opposite of what heroes stood for. Izuku was no stranger to suicide baiting, of course. He understood that the suicide rates for Quirkless individuals were some of the highest in the country—he had been one his entire life after all. Katsuki's harsh insults he could ignore, but him engaging in that was going too far.

A feeling of disbelief settled in his chest as he made his way out of the school building to the koi pond where his notebook had been thrown. He knelt beside the small body of water and pulled his notebook out before it became fish food. Checking the damage, Izuku sighed in relief when he saw that it wasn't irreparably damaged. It was waterlogged and slightly burnt, but still salvageable—mostly. He glanced at his watch and his shoulders sagged slightly when he saw the time. He was late and he was definitely not looking forward to his next training session.

* * *

Izuku walked quietly underneath an underpass as he buried himself in his thoughts. He was so preoccupied that he didn't notice something was creeping up on him until his instincts warned him and he immediately dodged to the left. He whirled around and tensed his muscles as he studied the creature that tried to attack him. It was a green sludge-like organism with gleaming yellow eyes. Izuku's eyes narrowed. A transformation Quirk? Or was it a mutation?

"Looks like you're faster than I thought!" the villain remarked, cackling disgustingly, "You'll be the perfect disguise to hide from _him_. Just hold still! This'll only hurt for a minute!"

The sludge launched itself at him again, but Izuku sidestepped the attack with practised ease. His eyes flashed blue and his green—now white—hair fell down to frame his face. A cold frown graced his lips as he stared at the sludge villain. His icy blue eyes darkened ever so slightly and he relaxed his stance.

He flicked his left hand outwards and a storm of ice flooded the underpass completely. The sludge villain was immediately frozen in place as the ice surrounded most of his body. His eyes were wide in shock and fear as the white-haired boy stared at him coldly. "Did you think that attacking a random stranger was smart? If you did, then I have to say, you are quite foolish."

The villain struggled futilely as the ice spread along his body and encased him fully.

"Now, since that's over–"

Suddenly, a manhole beneath the underpass burst open and a giant of a man emerged from the sewer. The boy automatically raised his right arm the moment he heard the noise. Icy blue eyes widened slightly in shock as they locked onto the person coming from the sewers. His blond hair had two bangs that stood upwards and curved slightly and his face had a large grin plastered on. It was the No. 1 Hero. His right arm was pointed threateningly at _All Might_. _Ohmygoditreallyishimit'sAllMight._

"Have no fear! I am he–"

All Might froze mid-word and surveyed his surroundings with an eyebrow raised. His eyes landed on the white-haired boy and he eyed his outstretched arm questioningly. The boy heaved a sigh and lowered his arm to rest at his side.

"I don't have enough expressions like this."

His low mutter caught All Might's ears and the hero looked on in slight awe as the boy's hair rose and changed into messy dark green locks and his pale skin turned several shades darker. Widened green eyes met his surprised blue ones and the boy stared with his mouth slightly agape.

"A-All Might."

"That's a unique Quirk you have there." The blond hero said as he examined the frozen sludge villain, "Pretty powerful too. I apologise for letting this villain get this far! I'm usually better at keeping civilians out of the way!"

Then the blond hero frowned slightly, just a slight downturn of his smile, "Though.... I have to ask. Do you think you can unfreeze this guy so I can take him to the police?"

Izuku looked at the green-tinted ice sculpture and chuckled nervously, "About that.... um, it'll melt in about ten minutes or so."

All Might's frown deepened as far as his seemingly permanent grin would allow and he seemed to struggle with something. "Well, I suppose I could wait a bit longer to apprehend him."

Izuku brightened and fumbled for his notebook, "While we wait, can you sign this book for me, please?" he asked with a hopeful smile as he held out the damp book.

All Might laughed heartily and grabbed the notebook, "Of course! Anything for a fan." He flipped through the singed pages. Most of it was unintelligible to him, but the little that he could read was enough to make his eyes go wide. As his eyes skimmed page after page, All Might became increasingly impressed by the depth of Izuku's analyses. Finally, he settled on a blank page and scribbled his signature across its entirety before handing it back to the ecstatic boy.

"Those are some very impressive notes you have there." All Might praised him with a broad grin. Izuku rubbed the back of his head and nodded slightly with a small smile of his own.

"Yeah. It's always been my dream to be a hero," he mumbled bashfully, "I figured if I wanted to achieve it, I would need to learn everything I could about heroism, including about the heroes themselves."

All Might nodded in understanding, "An admirable goal indeed. With such a keen mind, I believe you can become a great hero!" He shouted with a short flex of his biceps.

Izuku smiled at him, "Yeah, maybe...." he paused momentarily, "I have something to ask you—if you don't mind that is."

All Might's smile became slightly strained and he glanced to the side, "Uh, I'd love to, but it appears that the slimy fiend has finished melting." He ran past Izuku in a gust of wind as he shoved the slightly liquefied villain into two soda bottles.

"Well then, I'm off! Continue to work diligently in your pursuits, young man!"

And with that, the blond hero took off.

* * *

All Might's features morphed into confusion when he felt a slight weight on his left leg. He looked back to see Izuku gripping his leg with a death grip and his face tucked into the side of his pant leg. "WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?! LET GO OF ME! I LOVE MY FANS! BUT THIS IS TOO MUCH!"

When Izuku spoke his voice was slightly muffled by All Might's trousers, "We're in the air! If I let go now, I'll fall!" His response made All Might pause in thought.

"I hadn't thought about that. Fine then! Give me a moment to find somewhere to land!" A small trail of blood flowed from All Might's mouth and he wiped it away so quickly that even Izuku's sharp eyes barely noticed it. The boy's eyebrows furrowed in concern, though he kept quiet about it, even as pain flared in his abdomen.

All Might landed on a roof and Izuku immediately jumped from him and shook off his dizziness. The boy sat down to ground himself and calm his upset stomach from the effects of travelling through the air at high speed, and the other strange feeling.

"That was very dangerous, young man. Now, I really have to go. If you knock on the door, I'm sure somebody will let you out." All Might said as he walked briskly away. Izuku jumped up and started after him.

"Wait a second. I have something to ask–"

All Might raised a hand and cut him off. "No, I can't! I don't have any time!"

"I have to know! Is it possible to become a hero without a Quirk?" Izuku asked with just the right amount of desperation. He felt despicable for the lie that he was about to tell.

All Might paused and turned his head slightly.

"Ever since my.... Quirk first appeared, I've wanted to know. So tell me, do you think I can be a hero without a Quirk?"

Before All Might could respond, he suddenly froze as steam poured from his body, causing Izuku to blink in surprise. When the steam cleared, instead of All Might, there stood a too-skinny man with sharp, angular features and long limbs. He had an elongated neck and his eyebrows were non-existent. Izuku's eyes widened in shock which quickly turned to worry when the man started vomiting blood. The pain in his abdomen became even worse, but he ignored it.

"Are you okay? Do you need to go to a hospital?"

The man interrupted him with a wave of his hand, "No, it's alright. This is normal." Izuku frowned in concern as the man continued talking.

"To be honest, you're taking this a lot better than I thought you would."

"Yeah, well, I'm still confused as to what exactly...." Izuku gestured at the man's all but emaciated body, ".... This.... is."

The blond man sighed tiredly, "Well first of all, if you were wondering, I am indeed All Might." Izuku nodded at that. He was confused, but he wasn't in denial. All Might pulled up his shirt and showed off a grotesque scar covering the majority of his left side. Izuku's eyes softened and he felt the pain skyrocket to nearly unbearable levels. He forced it to just a slight pressure at the back of his mind before he shook it from his head. Although, there was still a nagging in the back of his mind as if trying to remind him of something.

"This is the reason I look like this," All Might explained, "This wound was given to me by a villain five years ago. My respiratory system and half of my stomach was destroyed and my body has wasted away from the countless surgeries to keep me alive. Because of this, I can only maintain my hero form to do hero work for three hours a day. The rest of the time I look like this."

"Five years ago?" Izuku muttered curiously, "You mean the one against Toxic Chainsaw?"

All Might smiled slightly. "You know your stuff. But, no. That punk couldn't have done this to me." His tone turned slightly darker, "This was from an undisclosed battle against a very powerful villain. It wasn't made public, and I'd very much like it to stay that way."

All Might clenched his fist and pulled down his shirt, smiling weakly, "A smile that knows no fear, huh?" he chuckled bitterly. "The reason I smile is to deceive myself that everything is alright. The Symbol of Peace can never be daunted in the face of evil. If the people knew that I was reduced to such a state...."

"There would be chaos." Izuku sombrely finished for him, and then added, "You don't have to worry about me. I won't tell anyone. You have my word."

All Might breathed a sigh of relief and nodded in gratitude, "Thank you. As for if you can become a hero without a Quirk.... no, I would think not." His reply was more than a little disappointing, but it wasn't unexpected, "I don't know what the situation is with your Quirk, but without it you'll be too much of a liability. Pros constantly put their lives on the line. Even with a Quirk, they aren't invincible; I'm proof enough of that. If you want to help people, there's always the police force. They're often looked down on because they only deal with the aftermath of villain attacks, but it's still a noble profession." All Might straightened his posture, "It's okay to dream.... just make sure it's realistic."

Izuku lingered on the roof for several minutes after All Might left, then a loud explosion caught his attention. Making his way to the source, he found a crowd of people gathered around several buildings on fire. Moving through the crowd to gain a clearer view down the street, his eyes widened when he saw the sludge villain from earlier surrounded by flames. His mind quickly deduced that he must have fallen when All Might had jumped.... and when Izuku grabbed onto his leg. Guilt wormed its way into his chest as he realised the villain was free because of him.

"Why aren't the heroes doing anything?" someone asked.

"I don't think they can," another bystander answered, "I heard that the villain is using a junior high student as a hostage."

Izuku looked closer at the scene as he tried to figure out what was causing the explosions. His mind screeched to a halt. There was only one person he knew who could cause explosions like that.

His green eyes widened and they were once again drawn to what was happening before him. The villain had Katsuki Bakugo in his grasp and the blond had none of his usual fire. Instead, he was struggling to escape. Struggling to breathe. To survive. And his eyes....

.... His eyes were screaming for help.

Izuku was past the line of people before he could even think.

He ducked under the protective divider that one of the pros was holding, dodging past any attempts to stop him and ignoring the cries of the pros for him to stop and go back.

He had no plan. But he was working on it. He kept running and shifted his backpack from his shoulders and took his aim. With a toss that would make his mentor proud, his backpack struck the villain in one of his eyes and gave him enough of an opening to get in close. He busied himself clawing at the slime, allowing Katsuki a few precious breaths of oxygen while the villain was distracted.

The blond glared at him before he even fully caught his breath.

"Why the hell are you here?!"

"I don't fucking know! My legs just moved on their own!"

His blood was roaring in his ears and he felt a slight pressure in the back of his mind that signified his powers being activated as he did everything he could to get Katsuki out of the sludge villain. "You looked like you needed help!"

"You again?! Die you little brat!"

The villain brought down a slimy appendage down to crush the boy and Izuku clenched teeth, preparing to activate his Quirk to defend himself.... but the blow never came. Izuku glanced up at the blond man now standing in front of him and his eyes widened.

"I really am pathetic." All Might said, even as blood poured past his lips.

"All Might?!"

"I'm such a hypocrite. Even though I admonished you, I didn't put what I said into practice! Pros are always putting their lives on the line!" He grabbed a hold of Katsuki's collar and pulled his other arm back for a punch.

"Detroit Smash!"

The force from the blow caused the area to be covered in rain clouds as a downpour began. All of the flames in alleyway were extinguished and the sludge villain was splattered all over the streets. The only reason Katsuki and Izuku weren't blown away was because of All Might's vice-like grip on their collars.

After the event, All Might was (predictably) swarmed by the media. Meanwhile, the heroes and other emergency responders scolded Izuku for running into a dangerous situation where he couldn't do anything to help. Izuku just keep quiet throughout the lecture and let the words go through one ear and out the other. He didn't care about what they were telling him. They were the ones who just stood by and did nothing. They also seemed unable to realise the irony of praising Bakugo for trying to fight off the villain with his powerful Quirk, despite the fact that he caused so much destruction.

* * *

After too many detours for his liking, Izuku finally managed to start making his way to his mentor's chosen meeting place. But, with how late he was, he would be lucky if he went home with only bruises this time. Trudging through the light rain that All Might had created, Izuku almost missed the sound of footsteps behind him.

"Deku!"

He stopped and spun around with a slight frown, "What do you want, Bakugo?"

The blond boy ran up behind him, out of breath, "I didn't ask for your help! And you didn't help me! Got that?! I was fine by myself! So don't think that just because you tried to play hero that means you can look down on me! I didn't need you help! I had him right where I wanted him! I don't owe you anything! You hear me, you shitty nerd?!"

Izuku blankly watched the other boy storm off after saying his piece. His mouth opened and closed before he shook his head with a sigh of exasperation.

_"Threat Assessment: Future obstacle. Removal is advised."_

Izuku flinched slightly at the monotonous voice, despite the thought being one of those on the tamer side, "Don't talk about him like that. People aren't obstacles."

The lack of a response didn't really surprise him, and he wasn't about to start complaining about it either.

"I am here!"

Izuku froze on the spot in shock at the sight before him, "All Might?! Why are you here? How did you get away from the reporters?"

"HAHAHAHAHA! Getting away from them was easy. Why? Because I am All Migh–" at that moment his muscular form gave out and he deflated into his skinny form with another spray of blood from his mouth.

Izuku started slightly, but he didn't scream. It was certainly going to take some getting used to, but fortunately, he adapted quickly.

"Young man, I've come because I need to talk to you!" All Might announced, "If you hadn't been there.... I would have become a guy in a bodysuit who was nothing but talk. Thank you."

"You're.... welcome, I guess?" Izuku said, more of a question than a statement, "But, I don't understand. It was my fault in the first place. I got in the way of your work, and I let that sludge villain get loose. I was only in the way during the attack."

"Nonsense! It was because it was you at the scene that I was able to act," All Might paused for a bit, "But, I want to ask, why didn't you use your Quirk back there? From what I've seen, you could have taken down that villain rather easily."

Izuku blinked in surprise, "First of all.... what? Second, I didn't use my Quirk because it's illegal, and.... well, I can't control h–it all that well. I would have probably done more harm than good."

"Ah, that makes sense," All Might nodded in understanding, "But, anyway, I came to apologise and to tell you that you can become a hero."

Izuku froze and stared up at him, wide-eyed. "Wait, really? But I thought you–"

"I was wrong," he interrupted, "Back there, despite having not been able to use your Quirk to fight, you jumped in to save your friend," All Might didn't notice how Izuku bristled when he said that, "When no one else did. Myself included. You were more heroic than anyone else in that moment. So, I say it again. You can become a hero."

The boy looked torn between surprise and joy, but they were quickly replaced by confusion. "But, I can't really rely on my p–Quirk."

"I have a solution," All Might told him, "It's only a suggestion, but I offer it to you with one condition; I want you to learn how to better control your Quirk."

Izuku stared at All Might for a moment before turning his gaze away, hiding the shame burning in his eyes, "I.... I don't know how."

"Then we'll find a way." the hero said with smile. He patted the boy's shoulder. "Learning how to control it better will help you in the long run. You used your Quirk today to save yourself, but you don't have very good control over it. As a hero, you cannot risk not having control of a Quirk as powerful as that. Do you understand what I mean?"

Izuku brought his gaze up to level with All Might's before answering, "Yeah.... yeah, I think I do."

"Now, back to my offer," All Might pointed a finger towards Izuku. "I've deemed you worthy of inheriting my power."

The boy sucked in a breath, surprise and confusion crinkling his features. "Inheriting your power?"

All Might couldn't help the chuckle that escaped him at the young boy's incredulous expression. "What's up with that face? It's only a suggestion. You need to decide whether or not you will accept my power!" His final declaration was accompanied by a spurt of blood.

Seeing Izuku's confusion, All Might explained further. "I'm talking about my Quirk, young man. The media call it superhuman strength, but I always dodged the question whenever it was brought up during interviews with a funny joke. Because to the world, the Symbol of Peace had to be a natural-born hero. But, the truth is, my Quirk was passed on to me like a sacred torch."

"Passed on?"

"That's correct. And I want you to be my successor."

"Wait a minute! It's true that your quirk is something hotly debated as one of the world's greatest mysteries. So much so that not a single day passes by where I don't see someone talking about it online. But I don't really understand what exactly you mean by inheriting or passing on a Quirk, I've never even heard of any Quirk like that before and it's not even one of the crazy theories I've seen and I have seen some real crazy shit, but there's never been any record of a Quirk that could do that since everyone has inborn traits that make up their Quirk so could a Quirk that can be passed on to others even happen since–"

"Whoa, kid! I have to stop you right there." All Might cut the boy off before he got too lost in his storm of muttering. "Look, I might keep a lot of secrets, but I do not lie! The power I was granted is a Quirk that transfers power. That is the power I inherited! That is One For All!"

"One For All?"

"That's right. One person cultivates the power and passes it on to another person, who also cultivates it and passes it on. It is the crystallisation of power that strengthens and grows as time passes on, allowing the users to save people."

"Why are you giving me something so great? I already have a Quirk."

"It doesn't matter to me," All Might told him calmly, "I have been looking for a successor ever since I was wounded and I think you would be the perfect person to inherit it. Even if you were truly Quirkless, I would have still offered for the reasons I already mentioned. This has nothing to do with your Quirk. It is because I think you have the heart of a hero."

"You aren't able to use your Quirk very well, but you were more heroic than anyone else back there." All Might's tone lightened. "But regardless, remember that the choice is yours alone. What will you choose?"

The boy lifted his head to meet All Might's gaze as he stood to his full height. "I'll do it."

"An immediate reply. That's what I thought you'd say, er...." All Might's smile dropped as he trailed off.

Izuku barely stifled a laugh at that, "Izuku. Izuku Midoriya."

All Might nodded, "Right, young Midoriya! Since I'll be training you, it's only fair that you know my real name as well." He cleared his throat and his smile returned, "Toshinori Yagi. Nice to officially meet you."

Izuku smiled at him, "Likewise," then his grin faltered, "Though.... I do need to talk to my mom about accepting your offer first."

* * *

When Izuku reached the meeting place, the good mood he gained from his talk with All Might was dampened by the deafening silence. His eyes scanned the area and he caught movement in the corner of his eye. He barely managed to raise his arm to block the kick aimed at his face and he was completely unable to defend against the blow to the stomach that sent him sprawling on his back.

Izuku groaned in pain and lied on the ground for a while, "Did you really have to do that?"

The response he received was an eye roll that he didn't need to see, "I saw you on the news." He stiffened slightly at that. "You're a real piece of work, you know that? I spent all this time training you and yet you still went and pulled a stupid stunt like that."

Izuku forced himself into a sitting position with an apologetic smile, "I'm sorry Nat, but you know I couldn't just leave him like that. Not when he needed help."

Natasha sighed and shook her head, her crimson locks following the motion, "I know about your altruism first-hand, remember? You couldn't leave behind someone in trouble even if you tried.... I do wish it wasn't that obnoxious kid, though."

Izuku frowned slightly, "I know you don't like him. I don't either, but he still didn't deserve to be in a situation like that." His gaze dropped to the floor, "I know what he was going through, and I wouldn't wish it on anyone."

Natasha eyed him questioningly, "And how exactly would you know that?"

The green-haired boy fidgeted on the ground and avoided her eyes, "I...." he hesitated, before continuing, ".... That wasn't the first time I met the sludge villain. He attacked me on the way here before he went after Ka–Bakugo. I managed to freeze him before he caught me though."

Izuku kept his gaze on the floor until a smooth hand landed on his head and ruffled his hair. "I'm not mad at you, Izu. I'm just...." she sighed exasperatedly, "I'm glad you're alright. You shouldn't do things like that, you know?" Izuku nodded and leaned into her touch.

They stayed like that for a few moments before Natasha pulled her hand away and stood up to her full height.

"I know your mother's definitely worried sick about you, so I'll let you off this once. Just don't do anything like that again."

Izuku nodded and hurriedly got to his feet with a bright smile, "Thanks, Nat! See you next week!" He waved goodbye and then ran off.

Natasha watched him leave fondly, and with a soft sigh, she disappeared into the shadows once more.

* * *

"Izukuuu!" Inko Midoriya practically tackled Izuku as he came in through the door and bawled into his shirt, "Don't ever scare me like that again."

Izuku felt a pang of guilt as he looked at his mother and felt her sadness. It was clear that she had been crying. "Sorry, mum. I'd have been home faster, but after the attack I had to give a statement to the police, and then the heroes scolded me, and then I had to meet up with Nat, and before that, I ran into–"

He stopped himself and smiled nervously at his mother, "I-I think you should sit down for this. It's pretty important."

When they settled into their couch, Izuku took a deep breath before facing Inko, "Mom, l, um, I met All Might's secretary today. He, uh, wants to train me to use my Quirk."

Inko stared at him in surprise, "All Might's secretary offered to train you with your Quirk?" Izuku nodded in confirmation at her inquiry.

"And you're actually considering it? But I thought you said–"

Izuku cut her off before she could continue, "I know what I said, but...." he squared his shoulders and looked her in the eyes, "I think this is really my chance to finally get better. If I want to be a hero, then I can't just rely on using my Quirk the way I always do if I get into a fight. But before I make the decision, I want—no, I _need_ your permission to do it."

Inko's silence made Izuku even more nervous as he tried guessing what she was thinking. His heart nearly leapt out of his chest when she responded, "You're really serious about all of this?"

Izuku just nodded firmly.

She studied his face, "You won't fall behind in your studies if you do this?"

Izuku shook his head, "I won't. I promise."

"Then.... if you really think that this will help you, I don't see why not."

Izuku smiled brightly and hugged Inko softly, "Thank you, mom."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Personality: Frost - 001**
> 
> **Eye Colour: Icy Blue**
> 
> **Power/s: Negative Temperature Manipulation. (?).**
> 
> **Class: Alpha (?)**
> 
> **Resistance: Low**
> 
> How did you like this first chapter of mine?
> 
> I know there isn't much action, but this is just the first part. Next chapter will be the introduction of more main characters. Not all of them of course, that would take too much time and effort.
> 
> I don't know if it was recognised, but I'm using the Marvel mutant power classification, with some differences. Izuku won't have too many uber powerful personalities, but he will have a good few. Not for a while though—I don't want to make him too overpowered yet.
> 
> Until next time. Later gators.
> 
> ~ Sloth


	2. Devil of Tokyo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Man without Fear takes an apprentice in the form of a blond girl obsessed with blood and Matt Murdock is reasonably sure that he's in over his head. Izuku meets Himiko and begins his training with All Might. Meanwhile, Natasha prepares for a new mission that isn't what it seems.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One of my favourite characters is introduced and the days at U.A. are just around the corner. The homicidal blond also appears, but she won't be nearly as crazy.
> 
> Enjoy.

Daredevil stood on top of an apartment complex as he listened to the people below. The hustle and bustle of the city was nothing but faded background noises as he stood alert of any sound that could indicate a crime.

His enhanced hearing picked up a scream and with a deep exhale, he was off. Leaping across rooftop to rooftop, he made his way to the source of the cry. He landed in an alleyway and his body immediately twisted to dodge a projectile tossed carelessly at a wall. His senses told him that there were four people in the alley; three men and one woman. The stench of alcohol he caught let him know that the men were likely drunk. His face hardened and he made his presence known by tapping one of his batons against the alley wall. The first man to take notice of him had a shark-like face.

"Who tha fuck are ya?" The man slurred slightly, mixed in with an unrecognisable accent. Daredevil didn't reply and the man stalked closer, "Oye, are ya deaf are somethin'?"

When he didn't get a reply his temper flared, "I'm talkin' to ya, ya little–"

A sharp crack rang out in the alleyway and the man crumpled to the ground with a bloody jaw.

The alleyway's other occupants stared in shock as the red-costumed man drew back his baton. "I'll give you a choice," his voice was low and gruff, "You can walk away right now, and pretend none of this ever happened.... or I beat you to a pulp and leave you here to rot. Choose."

Maybe it was the alcohol inhibiting their mental faculties, or maybe they were just stupid, as they recklessly charged at the vigilante. That was their first mistake. Their second was trying to use their Quirks on him. Before either of them could react, Daredevil was gone from their line of sight. The larger of the two, a shirt-less muscular man with a hairy body, was suddenly taken off balance by a string of wire rope wrapped around his legs. Unable to retain his balance, the man crashed onto the dirty ground and laid there in a daze.

Reacting slightly faster, the last man standing stopped himself before he too was caught in the trap. Unfortunately for him, the cable was nothing but a distraction, and before he could even realise what was happening, his vision went dark and he slumped to the ground unconscious. Meanwhile, the large man had managed to escape his bindings and rose to his feet.

Daredevil listened to the large man's heartbeat as it sped up drastically. The bear-like man peered into the shadows warily as he inched closer to the opening of the alleyway. A cold sweat ran down his back and he turned his back to his companion and tried to run. Suddenly, a boot impacted the back of his head and he tumbled to the ground in a heap.

The woman in the alley backed away in fright when Daredevil turned towards her, "Call the police and tell them what happened here."

Not waiting on a response, Daredevil leapt up onto a building's fire escape and scaled it with ease. Leaving the scene, the red-clad vigilante picked up on the sound of footsteps rapidly approaching him. He dropped down into another alley and waited until his pursuer arrived. He listened intently to the man's steady heartbeat and heard the rustling of a cloth-like material. He frowned slightly as he tried to place where he had heard it before.

The man crept closer to the vigilante's hiding place and Daredevil sprang out and knocked him down in blur of motion. Taking advantage of his opponent's dazed state, he swiftly fled and disappeared into the night, leaving the man to pick himself off the ground.

  


* * *

Shota Aizawa was not having a good night.

First he had to deal with a group of low-level thugs trying to rob a convenience store and then he had to administer first-aid to one of the criminals after he accidentally shot himself in the leg. Dumb criminals were—unfortunately—a reoccurring part of hero work and dealing with them couldn't wait.

Shota stood on the roof of an apartment complex with his hero costume on. His capture weapon rested comfortably around his neck, a weight that was all too familiar to him. Looking at his watch, he saw that his patrol was almost over. He sighed and headed towards the doorway that led off of the roof, getting ready to head to the street to do one last sweep before ending his patrol. As he reached for the handle, however, a scream caught his attention.

The fearful high-pitched sound was barely audible and it made Shota freeze mid-step. Barely a second later, he was fully alert, head turned towards the direction of the noise. His eyes hardened and he took off in a sprint. He didn't have time to go down to the ground level—he'd be too late to save the person if he did that. His only option was to go across the rooftops.

At a full sprint, he leapt onto the railing, his feet only touching it for the slightest of moments before he launched himself across the alleyway. Luckily, he made the jump, landing into a roll back onto his feet.

Not sparing a single second, Shota pushed himself back into a sprint and launched himself across another rooftop. He continued on his path as he neared his destination, at least that was what he assumed. The screaming had cut off almost as soon as it started so he didn't have much to follow.

The sound of fighting reached his ears for a moment before it stopped abruptly. Shota narrowed his eyes when suddenly movement from ahead of him caught his eye. A red blur swiftly scaled a building from out of an alleyway and took off across the rooftops. He cursed under his breath and began chasing after it.

When Shota reached the alley, he spotted a young brunette woman with a phone to her ear surrounded by three unconscious men. After doing a quick check to make sure that she was okay, he resumed his pursuit of the red figure. Spotting the figure dropping into another alley, Shota readied his capture weapon and leapt down after him. The grey bands of his scarf wrapped around a streetlamp to slow his fall.

Shota activated his Quirk. He felt the usual pressure in his eyes, just like every other time he activated his Quirk, and the hair around his head rose into the air, seeming to defying gravity.

The figure was nowhere to be seen when he entered the alleyway, but Shota knew better than to think he was gone. He cautiously scanned the alleyway for any sign of the strange figure with his capture weapon held at the ready. Suddenly, the figure jumped out of hiding and slammed his heel onto the hero's forearms. Shota grunted in pain as the blow knocked him to the ground. Quickly locking his gaze onto the figure, Shota was finally able to see his assailant.

Covered from head to toe in a red and black suit, the man resembled an oni, complete with horn like protrusions on the cowl helmet and pure red eye-lenses. Shota was struck by a memory of that same mask and the sound of glass shattering and gunshots. A loud bang snapped him out of his reverie and he looked up to see the man taking off from a trash bin.

"Stop!" Shota shouted as he jumped to his feet and ran after the man. However, by the time he reached the roof, the man was gone and he was left with a bruised arm, dry eye and not a thing to show for any of it.

"Shit."

Shota knew that he had used his Quirk on the man, and yet he had still moved too fast for him to react. The jumps the man performed were beyond anything even he was capable of. A mutant type Quirk, maybe? They were usually very visible, but it could have been a more subtle mutation.

Regardless, there was one thing that was certain. That man was familiar to him, and he wanted to find out why.

  


* * *

Izuku yawned lightly as he made his way to Dagobah Municipal Beach. He walked at a leisurely pace as he watched the sun beginning to rise above the horizon.

_"Too bright."_

_"Make it fade."_

_"Snuff it out."_

Izuku ignored the voice's words and sighed softly as he walked, "Mr. Yagi said he wanted to meet me at the beach, but there's nothing but garbage there."

"Hmm...." Izuku paused for a moment. _Maybe I could clean it up a bit. It would be a nice thing to do for the community. Though, with Nat already going to run me ragged with U.A.'s entrance exam only ten months away, I might not get the chance._

Izuku shook his head abruptly.

"No. I may be aiming for the number 1 hero school in the _country_ , but that doesn't mean I have to stop caring about others." He stopped in front of the entrance to the beach as he spotted All Might in his skinny form standing on the trash covered sand.

"Mr. Yagi!"

Toshinori turned at the sound of his name, "Oh, Young Midoriya! There you are."

Izuku cracked a small smile and his eyes darted over the piles of garbage on the beach, "So, what are we doing here? This isn't exactly what I'd call a proper training ground."

Toshinori laughed loudly, "We are here because you are going to clean this beach! People often forget that heroes started out doing things such as community service." He pulled out a small booklet, "This was the plan I was originally planning to use, but whatever training you've been doing has already made you a near perfect vessel for One for All."

Izuku smiled brightly at the compliment. Natasha was a brutal instructor, but it was well worth it to fulfil his dream.

"However, it's better to be safe than sorry, so I'll have to make you a revised plan just in case." Toshinori stated seriously. "But before we get to that, I'd like you to tell me more about your Quirk. I know you can control ice, but that's about it."

"Oh," Izuku uttered in surprise and lightly scratched his left cheek, "Well, my Quirk isn't exactly ice manipulation. It's more like I can control temperature, but mostly only by lowering it, so I can't increase temperatures above a certain limit. I'm also less sensitive to temperature changes since my body heat is very low." Izuku created a few icicles to orbit lazily around his arms to demonstrate his control.

"That's a fascinating Quirk you have there, young Midoriya." All Might said looking at the display with awe.

Izuku flushed slightly at the praise before continuing, "That's the most I complicated thing I can do without losing control, but.... that isn't all there is to it. I also have another ability; I can heal myself and others. Though, I can only heal injures like cuts and minor broken bones in other people."

All Might's eyebrows shot upwards in surprise, "So you have two Quirks? Amazing.... what do you call them?"

Izuku paused for a moment, "I call it Frostbite. It's the best I could come up with, and it stuck, though I haven't registered it yet."

All Might nodded in acceptance. It was very difficult to come up with a name for a dual Quirk whose parts were so fundamentally different, so naming it after one part was one of the better outcomes.

"We'll work on your Quirk after the beach is cleaned up, so get to it Young Midoriya!"

Izuku straightened his posture and raised his left arm in a salute, ignoring the pang of guilt in his chest.

"Right!"

  


* * *

Izuku grunted in exertion as he hefted a fridge into Toshinori's pickup truck, "That's it for today, Young Midoriya. We'll continue this tomorrow." The man said as he patted Izuku on the back and entered his truck and drove off.

Izuku nodded as he took slow measured breaths to recover himself. He flopped onto the sand and watched as the truck moved further and further away from him. The green-haired boy closed his eyes for a moment, and then he heard movement close by.

"Hey there!"

The cheery voice caused him to open his eyes to see who it was. A petite blonde girl around his age, with two messy buns on either side on her head, yellow cat-like eyes and sharp canines in a school uniform covered by an over-sized cardigan, was standing a short distance away from him. Izuku blinked in confusion as his mind finished processing the situation.

"Uh, hi?"

The girl giggled cutely, "What are you doing out here all alone?" she asked with a curious tilt of her head.

Izuku stayed silent for a few seconds before he responded, "Training."

The girl smiled, "Ooh~ Training, huh? What for?"

Izuku thought about lying for a moment before he dismissed the thought and decided to be truthful, "I'm trying to get into U.A." he said honestly, "So, I'm going to have to train hard to get in."

"You're training for U.A.?! Really?!"

The girl was practically vibrating with excitement as she said that, and Izuku couldn't help but be surprised by her bubbly attitude. She reminded him of a certain someone. It also didn't help that she was really cute as well. Izuku had to suppress a blush at that thought.

"Y-Yeah," Izuku rubbed the back of his neck bashfully, "I've wanted to become a hero since I can remember. I want to save people with a smile, just like All Might."

The blond's smile grew even wider at his response, "That's nice of you. By the way, my name's Himiko Toga, what's yours?"

Izuku hesitated momentarily as he weighed his options. On one hand, she was a stranger and talking to her was already a risk in and of itself. On the other hand, she didn't seem to be malicious. That still wasn't nearly enough for him to disregard her as a threat, but at the same time, it wasn't like she was asking for his address or anything. Finishing his internal debate, Izuku finally decided to answer.

"I'm Izuku Midoriya. Nice to meet you, Toga."

And that was the start of Izuku's first true friendship in a long time.

  


* * *

"Detroit Smash!"

A large fist flew forward and the ocean parted in front of the appendage for several seconds before seawater rushed in to fill the empty space.

Izuku stared wide-eyed as the waves crashed tumultuously into each other.

"That was amazing!"

All Might laughed heartily, "Of course it was! That was the power of One for All." The blond man said proudly. He grinned broadly down at Izuku and poked a finger to his chest.

"This power will soon be yours to wield!"

The greenette stared at the spot All Might poked for a moment before looking back up at the giant man. Looking at him now, it was hard to imagine him as being frail and weak. It was unimaginable that the world's strongest hero was fading. A future without All Might was depressing to think about.

"Young Midoriya!" Izuku shook himself from his depressing thoughts and straightened his posture as all Might addressed him. The blond hero grinned down at Izuku with a glint in his eyes.

"Since you've finished clearing the beach in less than half the time I had set, we can now focus on your Quirk!"

Izuku's body nearly shook with his anticipation for his Quirk training. He almost couldn't believe it was already happening. It was all so surreal. He used to be content with living without using his Quirk very much, but now here he was being trained by the number 1 hero himself. It was a dream come true.

"Young Midoriya? Young Midoriya, are you okay?"

"Huh?" Izuku blinked in confusion before he set his eyes on the skinny form of All Might. He was—wait, skinny? Izuku hadn't even noticed when he transformed.

"Are you alright? You spaced out for a minute there." All Might said with a look of worry on his face. Izuku smiled nervously and waved him off.

"O-Oh, I'm fine. I was just lost in my thoughts."

"Now, then." All Might suddenly puffed up into his muscular form. "Somebody once told me that there is a difference between something you receive because you're lucky and something that you earn because of your own efforts. Now, eat this!" he produced a strand of his blond hair with a wide grin.

"Huh?" Izuku deadpanned in response to the last part.

"In order to pass on One for All, you have to take in my DNA. Now, eat it!"

Izuku reluctantly took the hair from All Might and swallowed it whole. He shivered as the hair made its way down his throat, "This isn't quite how I imagined this would go."

"It'll take a few hours for the Quirk to manifest, so you can take the rest of the day off. We'll start training tomorrow!" Izuku nodded and watched as All Might left the beach before he eventually left himself.

His thoughts inevitably drifted back to Himiko as he walked home. The blond girl was a bit eccentric, but he enjoyed her company, especially since he didn't really have any friends. He reflected on the time they spent together over the past four months, and he couldn't help the smile on his face as he drifted off to sleep.

  


* * *

Izuku gazed up at the gates of U.A. High in amazement. All Might smiled broadly after looking at him.

"Welcome to U.A., young Midoriya. Now, come on, there are some people who want to meet you."

Izuku followed All Might, who led him towards a building near the back of the school. Upon entering the building, he spotted 3 people already standing there. There was a short old lady, a man who looked like an insomniac hobo dressed in dark clothing covered in a scarf, and a scarred mammal that he vaguely recognised as a stoat standing beside the woman. Izuku recognised the creature as the principal of U.A. High, Nezu.

"Nice to see you, Toshinori! So, this is your successor?" Principal Nezu asked smiling at the tall blond man.

"Yes sir. This is Izuku Midoriya, the ninth inheritor of One for All." All Might said while lightly pushing Izuku forward.

Izuku instinctively straightened his posture and bowed, "It's an honour to meet you here in person, Principal Nezu."

Nezu took the chance to study Izuku and a devious glint appeared in his eyes upon seeing the reserved look of determination in his eyes. "I can see why you chose him as your successor, Toshinori. He'll be a great hero one day." he said with his smile still in place.

"Now then, Midoriya, this is training ground Omega of U.A. High. Seeing as you're a bit of a special case, I've given my permission for you to train here to develop your Quirks. I've been told that you already have a rather interesting dual Quirk. Do you mind giving us a demonstration?"

"I don't mind, sir. I'd be glad to show you," Izuku said with a neutral smile.

The rest of the gathered people moved back as Izuku stood before a training dummy. He closed his eyes and sucked in a deep breath before opening his now icy blue eyes and releasing a storm of frost towards the dummy. All Might and the others standing a good distance away felt a chill run down their backs from the cold air Izuku released. When Izuku lowered his arm, all that remained was a small iceberg where the dummy formerly stood.

"That was impressive, Midoriya. I can't wait to see how you do at U.A.! Now, if you'll excuse me, I have work to do. All the best with your training, Midoriya. Aizawa and Recovery Girl are here to help All Might monitor your training so you don't injure yourself too badly. Goodbye." Principal Nezu said with a small wave before walking away.

"For now, let's start your training with One for All, young Midoriya. To use One for All, you just have to squeeze your butt cheeks and yell 'Smash' from the bottom of your heart!" All Might said while punching the air.

Izuku deadpanned toward his mentor after hearing his instructions, "You've never been a teacher before, right?"

All Might sweat-dropped while Recovery Girl giggled and even Aizawa had to hide a smile at that.

"Anyway, I'll try your.... suggestion." Izuku finally decided, turning towards another training dummy. He drew back his fist, letting the power of One for All flow through the limb before punching the dummy with all his strength. The moment Izuku threw the punch, he immediately knew that something was very wrong. The dummy was blown away from the force and high pressure winds generated due to the punch. Heavy winds buffeted the area and Izuku heard more than he felt his left arm shatter. Not break— _shatter_. When the winds subsided, the training dummy was completely obliterated, and so was his arm.

Izuku fell to his knees and bit back a scream. The adults rushed to him to assess his injuries, and Recovery Girl was the only one who managed not to flinch. His entire arm was a mismatched mix of purple and angry red. It seemed that the bones in his arm had been almost completely shattered. Recovery Girl moved forward to place a kiss on his arm, but Izuku used his good arm to stop her. He gritted his teeth as, unbeknown to anyone, his eyes changed to a bright golden-amber. Izuku forced himself to his feet and the adults watched in surprise as his arm slowly regained its normal coloration. After a little over a minute, Izuku moved his arm sluggishly in front of his face before letting it limply drop to his side.

"Well, that was...." All Might cleared his throat in shocked awe, "I had expected some drawback, but I didn't think it would be to such a serious extent. Your second Quirk is quite strong, but you should probably refrain from using 100% of One for All." All Might said while torn between looking at Izuku's newly healed arm and the amount of destruction caused by his punch.

"Midoriya, you should go home and rest for now. I doubt healing that arm of yours was easy to accomplish." Recovery Girl said smiling up at him as he experimentally clenched and unclenched his fist.

"Recovery Girl is right, young Midoriya. We'll continue your training tomorrow."

  


* * *

When Izuku reached home that evening, he immediately crashed onto his bed due in part to his exhaustion. _How should I regulate the flow of One for All through my body? One punch at 100% shattered all the bones in my arm. I can't afford to have my limbs destroyed every time I use it, _Izuku thought turning to stare at a poster of All Might.__

____

His gaze slid down to his still numb left arm, "That was definitely not normal. I know that One for All is powerful, but still, something about that backlash felt off and I can't put my finger on it...." Izuku mumbled in frustration. If he hadn't thought to use Vita's powers to heal himself, it could have been debilitating.

__

"All Might won't be able to give me any pointers about this. I'll have to figure out what went wrong on my own. It's better like that, anyway." Heaving a small sigh of resignation, he went back to staring at the ceiling until his phone went off. He shifted his gaze over to the device and smiled at the name on the screen. Talking to Himiko might be a good way to distract himself for a while, besides he hadn't spoken to her in a while. Not since they promised each other to meet at U.A. High a few weeks ago.

__

"Hi, Izu-kun!"

__

Izuku smiled at her energetic greeting, despite the undertone of exhaustion in her voice.

__

"Hi, Toga. It's nice to talk to you again."

__

"Aw, Izu-kun. I told you to at least call me Himiko!"

__

He could almost hear the pout in her response and he chuckled softly.

__

"Sorry, Himiko."

__

"That's better!"

__

They spent nearly an hour talking about random subjects and by the time he hung up, his mind was relaxed. Deciding to take advantage of it, Izuku closed his eyes and took deep breaths as he began to meditate. He slowly drew upon his Quirk and felt the temperature in his room drop drastically. He exhaled slowly and felt a chill enter his body, spreading through his limbs.

__

As the ice cold feeling continued moving throughout his entire body, a sudden thought struck him, making his power fade. _That's it! All this time I've been trying to use One for All like it was another one of my powers; forcing it to move through my body. I forgot that it was something completely different. It's supposed to be a natural function. And if that is indeed the case, then all I need to do now is...._

__

With a deep breath, Izuku's eyes turned back to their normal colour and he clenched his fists while channelling One for All through his whole body. He smiled in triumph as he felt the power flowing through him as it began to stabilise. His body was now glowing green and had sparks of green lightning arcing from it. He brought a fist in front of his face and marvelled at the feeling of power in his body and the control he had over One for All.

__

"This power is incredible. I've never felt anything like this. This feeling is totally different from when I use my other powers. So much.... calmer."

__

With another deep breath, he released his control over One for All and watched in slight fascination as the green glow around him gradually receded.

__

"I bet this will be a pleasant surprise for All Might tomorrow." Izuku murmured with a smile before going back to his usual meditating.

__Count to four, inhale...._ _

__Count to five, exhale...._ _

Meanwhile, in another part of the city, Himiko sleepily laid in her bed staring out of her window up at the moon. The man in red, or Daredevil as he called himself—she wouldn't stop calling him devil-man, though—had been working her to the bone to compensate for her lack of 'combat experience', especially since she didn't have a combative Quirk to use to her advantage. But it was all worth it to reach her goal.

__

_Six more months, Izu-kun~_ she thought with a joyous giggle as she turned over on the mattress. "You had better keep your promise~" she whispered with a wide smile before drifting off to sleep.

__

Matt Murdock tilted his head as he heard the sound of light snoring coming from upstairs. He sighed and turned his attention back to his work. His fingers skilfully felt over his baton as he checked for deformities. When he found none, he returned it to its rightful place and went to his own bedroom. Not for the first time, he wondered how he ended up taking in the crazy blonde upstairs. He didn't regret it exactly, but she could be a handful sometimes.

__

Thinking of handfuls, his thoughts went back to the man he fought months ago; Eraserhead. The underground hero wasn't someone he was overly concerned about, but he had to take different routes to avoid running into him seeing as how their first meeting wasn't quite a pleasant one. Dismissing the thought, the blind vigilante focused on a certain piece of information he had gleaned after a recent fight. Something big was going to go down and whatever it was, he knew it was bad. _Very_ bad. He could only hope that he'd finish his apprentice's training in time for her to take the exams.

__

Otherwise, he might never get the chance.

__

  


__

* * *

__

Natasha's nose crinkled briefly in distaste as she casually made her way past dilapidated buildings and through small gatherings of the inhabitants. Her sharp eyes scanned her surroundings and she idly fiddled with the silver band on her ring finger. She eventually stopped in front of a building that seemed to be in better shape than most others. Huffing out a resigned breath, she softly knocked twice, paused, and then knocked three more times.

The door creaked open and Natasha walked in as the door closed behind her. With barely a glance around, she entered the furthest room in the corridor. The room was dimly lit and nearly empty. It was nothing she wasn't used to, but that didn't mean she had to like it. The only other occupant in the room turned to face her; a tall blond man with an eye-patch covering his right eye and a menacing red eye.

"Agent Malcovich?" his gruff voice addressed her questioningly. His accent wasn't heavy but it was familiar, either German or Austrian. Though she wasn't entirely sure if there even was a difference. Neither of them were places she visited very often.

Natasha nodded in confirmation, "Nicholas Reach, I presume?" The man grunted lightly in answer before turning around and picking up a cylindrical object.

"On this is everything you need to know about this mission."

Nicholas dropped the object in her hand and she raised an eyebrow in surprise, "What exactly is this? This isn't what I usually receive. What's with the sudden change?"

She didn't get an answer. Not that she expected one. Nobody really trusted her with information like that. Not yet, at least. But she'd get there. She was nothing if not patient, and they knew that she was good at what she did. She was going to take it one mission at a time. Whatever it took to get what she wanted. When she walked out from the building, her instincts were warning her that something was off, but she couldn't tell exactly what it was. Oh well, she'd just have to burn that bridge when she got there.

Just like always.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Personality: Vita - 003**
> 
> **Eye Colour: Golden-Amber**
> 
> **Power/s: Biological Manipulation. (?).**
> 
> **Class: Alpha (?)**
> 
> **Resistance: None**
> 
> That's it for chapter 2. I hope it was good enough. I enjoyed writing this either way.
> 
> Another power is introduced and Daredevil sees some action. You'll be seeing more of him and his new protege, and some of his backstory will be revealed in later chapters. The entrance exam also starts next chapter.
> 
> Until next time.
> 
> ~ Sloth


	3. Crossfire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Izuku prepares to take on one of the most important tests of his life and gain new friends and allies as the U.A. Entrance exams arrive; Natasha's mission goes horribly wrong in one of the worst places possible and Daredevil is caught in the crossfire.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's another one for you. This is going to be more violent and action-oriented than the others, but this isn't even close to what's going to happen in later chapters. So, please....
> 
> Enjoy.

Izuku stared in the bathroom mirror intensely, his face scrunched up in concentration. His eyes flickered between blue, amber and jade green before finally settling upon their original emerald green colour. He relaxed his features and sighed softly. Even after trying his hardest, he still wasn't able to use One for All in concert with his natural powers. It wasn't even that they weren't working, they just weren't working _together_. Every time he tried to use them at the same time, he would have to stop focusing on one or the other unless he wanted to break himself. Again.

Izuku knew that his body was only strong enough to handle One for All at a certain percentage and his own powers were a handful on their own, but the issue he had was not control. It was something else that he just couldn't put his finger on. The only reason he could think of was that since his powers were something different from Quirks, they were having trouble coordinating _with_ an actual Quirk.

_"Is that what he thinks?"_

_"Let him make of it what he will."_

_"We don't need a Quirk to be the best."_

_"Hehe~ It's too late for that now, isn't it~?"_

_"W **h** a **t** h **e** d **o** es **n** 't **k** no **w** **can** can **'t** h **u** r **t** hi **m**."_

The voices were whispering as always, and this time there were a few new additions. Or were they already there before? They came and went with no particular pattern Izuku could find, and he could barely understand what they were saying anyway, especially when they talked over each other. Izuku didn't know what exactly the voices were, but they were the only constant in his life, other than his mother. And that was all he needed to know.

Going back to his original thoughts, he might actually have figured out a way to combine his powers with One for All. It was a long shot and exceedingly dangerous, but if it did work then he would succeed both in impressing All Might and learning a new move to give him an edge in the upcoming exams.

Izuku didn't even notice as his smile widened into a devilish grin.

  


* * *

All Might grinned proudly at the glowing green figure of Izuku, who was channelling One for All through his body, causing lightning to arc around him. Aizawa smirked at the boy's ability to figure out how to use his new Quirk and his ability to put that knowledge into practise, while Recovery Girl was looking at him with amazement.

"You never cease to amaze me, young Midoriya! Now try using that power on a target." All Might said pointing towards a random training dummy.

Izuku nodded without replying and drew in a deep breath, regulating his breathing as he always did.

He entered his fighting stance habitually and threw a punch at the dummy. In almost an instant, the dummy was blown into pieces. It wasn't completely destroyed as with a punch at a 100%, but it was obliterated nonetheless.

"Very nicely done, young Midoriya! And you didn't even suffer any sort of backlash. Based on the power of your punch, I'd guess that you were using around 15% of the power of One for All." All Might appraised as the glow and lightning bolts around Izuku slowly disappeared. "Since we have quite a bit of time until the entrance exams, we're going to focus on training your body to handle more than 15% of One for All."

"I'll also need to train to use both Frostbite and One for All in tandem." Izuku said enthusiastically, then softly muttered too quietly for anyone else to hear, "That'll be a lot easier said than done."

"Then let's go right into it!" All Might exclaimed while buffing up into his hero form. "Try channelling your Quirks together and hit me."

"Got it."

Izuku adopted his stance; right leg forward, his right hand clenched in front of him and his left arm clenched at his side as he channelled both One for All and 'Frostbite' through his body. As he felt the familiar drastic drop in temperature around his body along with the green glow and lightning bolts of One for All, they started moving towards each other. When both powers finally touched and started to fight for control, Izuku imposed his own will and guided his power to mix with One for All—not entirely, but it was just enough to make them harmonised.

When he opened his eyes, they shone with a bright glow and in two very different colours; his right eye was jade green and his left eye was sapphire blue. The green glow surrounding him receded around his body and blue sparks arced from him, occasionally hitting the ground or walls and leaving behind patches of frost. His now white hair floated slightly upwards, leaving his eyes uncovered. Joy and amazement were evident in them as a joyful laugh burst forth from his lips.

"This is incredible! This feeling is like nothing I've ever felt before." Izuku said while looking at his hands in astonishment. He turned his gaze upwards and faced to All Might with a wide grin. "Get ready, All Might."

"Go ahead and attack with all you've got, young Midoriya." All Might replied with his signature smile.

Izuku smirked slightly and bent his knees, then promptly disappeared. All Might blinked in surprise at the sudden action and looked around in confusion, wondering where the green-haired boy had gone.

"Up front, All Might." Izuku said as he seemingly re-materialised in front of the blond hero, "Arctic Rise!" Izuku shouted as he slammed both arms onto the ground with the power of One for All boosting the hit, and All Might raised his arms just in time to block the massive iceberg that was generated. In doing so, he was shoved multiple metres back and eventually came to a stop in the far corner of the gym.

"My word, young Midoriya. That power was amazing!" All Might exclaimed as he stood up fully and shook his arms to regain some feeling in them.

Izuku grinned at the praise before he flopped to the ground in exhaustion as the glow surrounding him faded and his hair returned to its messy green state, though his eyes took noticeably more time to change. "Thanks, but even though that was pretty amazing, it really does take a lot out of me." Izuku said breathing heavily.

"Perhaps, but you haven't suffered any backlash from using One for All, except being severely exhausted of course. For now, what we need to work on is increasing the amount of power your body can handle outputting from One for All." All Might said, offering a hand to help Izuku up.

Izuku grinned half-lazily and half-tiredly, "Yes, sir."

  


* * *

_Six Months Later - 3 Days before U.A. Entrance Exams_

Sweat dripped profusely off Izuku's body as he strained his muscles, bringing himself up and down from his diagonal position with his right arm behind his back. His left arm shook in exhaustion as he counted each upward push.

"94.... 95.... 96.... 97.... 98.... 99.... 100."

Izuku brought his other arm down for balance as he righted himself. He sighed wearily and ignored his body's groans of protest as he prepared to do another set of sit ups.

The extensive training that Izuku had been put through was gruelling, but it paid off massively in the end. He was now able to control 22% of One for All along with his other powers. 22% of One for All, while incredibly powerful in and of itself due to the nature of the Quirk, was an even more powerful force to be reckoned with when he used it together with 'Frostbite'. He didn't wear himself out after only using a single attack anymore, and he could maintain that form for several hours with light physical activity. His maximum limit with constant strenuous activity was around three hours, give or take.

All Might was proud of Izuku, and he could tell that Natasha was too. That was for sure, even though she was hard to read on the best of days. Fortunately, both his mentors had given him the few days he had before the Exam off. Though, he had noticed that his red-haired mentor was acting differently during his training sessions. Not enough to be easily seen through, but he thought that he was pretty good at getting a read on people. It made him slightly uneasy since she was always so collected and sure in everything she did, but he didn't comment on it. He was fairly certain that she would be fine.

Collapsing onto his bed in pure exhaustion, Izuku stared up at the ceiling while trying to control his breathing. Now that he had finished his personal training for the day, he had nothing else to do. He was already well prepared for the written part of the exams from days before, and so his thoughts drifted away as per usual. His powers were still a mystery to him and he wasn't any closer to figuring them out than he was years before.

_"There's nothing to find."_

_"We are us. Nothing more."_

_"Do we tell–"_

_"Not yet."_

Izuku sighed softly in annoyance at the unintelligible voices before ignoring them. "Just three more days until the exams. I have to do my best," Izuku said quietly as he closed his eyes, ".... After all, I have a promise to keep."

_Three Days Later_

The gates of U.A. was a familiar sight for Izuku. This time, however, he stood before them as a future hero-in-training to be. He couldn't deny that there were nerves bundling up inside his stomach. He took a deep breath and as he put one foot forward, a voice stopped him in his tracks.

"Get out of my way before I kill you, Deku." Katsuki said coldly, shoulder checking Izuku as he entered the gates.

Izuku rolled his eyes, "Good morning to you too, Baka-go." he said sarcastically, shaking his head in annoyance.

As Izuku took his second step, his reflexes warned him of danger a millisecond too late and he tripped on a crack in the ground.

 _Am I really gonna start off the exam with a broken nose?_ Izuku scoffed internally. _Figures._ Just as he was ready to accept his fate, he suddenly stopped, suspended mid fall. Izuku blinked in surprise, "What the f–"

He was interrupted when a pair of hands grabbed his shoulders and straightened him, "Sorry, I didn't ask before using my Quirk on you. I just thought that it'd be bad luck if you fell before the exam, right?" The short brunette said, smiling brightly.

_"Hiding anxiety with positivity. Threat Level: None."_

"No worries. If anything, I should be thanking you for saving me from a broken nose," Izuku smiled nervously and rubbed the back of his neck, "But, uh, I think we should probably go in now. Good luck with your exam."

The girl started slightly and uttered, "Oh, right," she turned away to head through the gates, "Bye green-haired guy!" She waved at Izuku and hurried off.

_"Heart rate accelerating. Body temperature rising. Recommend med–"_

"Shut up."

  


* * *

Izuku exited the examination room with a slight frown of disappointment. The written exam was easy, much easier than he thought it would be. Though, he supposed that it may have just been him. He banished the thought from his mind as he approached the auditorium, following the large crowd of other U.A. hopefuls.

Izuku hesitated only slightly when he saw the open seat next to Katsuki. He sighed in resignation and took the empty seat with great reluctance. The blond boy glared over at him, but otherwise ignored him. Izuku noticed a short purple-haired girl in the seat to his right before his attention was drawn away to the stage.

"Welcome to my live show, everybody!" Present Mic shouted into his mic, "Everybody say, Hey!"

Nothing. Not even a sigh.

"Tough crowd!" Present Mic laughed awkwardly and continued, "Anyway, I'm about to give you all the rundown of the practical exam. Are you ready?!"

More silence.

"Everyone's really wound up, huh? Not even Present Mic can get a response." Izuku muttered to himself.

"Pay attention, listeners!" Present Mic shouted, again, "We'll be seeing if you have the skills to fit the bill in a ten minute practice run at our replica city district! You can take whatever equipment you want! After my presentation, all you have to do is head over to the specified battle centre!"

"So, they won't let you work with people you know."

Izuku was startled when he heard the girl next to him speak and he found his gaze drifting towards her. The first things he noticed about her were the flexible, plug-like earphone jacks hanging from each of her earlobes. He instantly recognised it as her Quirk and it was a struggle to keep himself quiet. Her onyx eyes had a bored look and she had small eyebrows. She also had short dark purple hair with an asymmetrical fringe. Overall, she was a very pretty–

"What are you looking at?"

The voice snapped Izuku out of his thoughts and he realised that he was staring at the girl. A blush threatened to set his face on fire as he stuttered out a reply, "Ah, s-sorry. I was just, um, sorry."

The girl glared at him with a scrutinising gaze before turning away, muttering a quiet, "Whatever" under her breath.

"There'll be three types of fake villains spread throughout the battle centre and each of them will be rated as either One, Two, or Three pointer! Your goal is to take out as many of them as possible with your Quirks and rack up a high score! Of course, attacking other examinees or any kind of unheroic act will not be tolerated, ya dig?!" Present Mic explained, or shouted, as the screen behind him displayed the three types of faux villains.

"Excuse me, may I ask a question?!"

All but one pair of eyes were drawn to the bespectacled student who raised his hand. Upon receiving permission, he began, "This handout clearly states that there are four types of faux villains! If this is a mistake, then this is an embarrassment for a national academy of U.A.'s calibre! We examinees are here to be made into exceptional heroes! What is the meaning of this?!"

"And you two!" the teen suddenly pointed towards Izuku and the girl next to him, who looked surprised at being targeted. "You have been muttering nonstop! You are distracting those who actually wish to listen! If you are only here for fun, then leave here at once!"

The purple-haired girl apparently took offence to that, though she surprisingly kept quiet. Surprising because of the fierce levels of anger and indignation Izuku felt from her.

_"Privileged upbringing. Wealthy family. Heroic values? Minimal Threat.... Uptight."_

For once he completely agreed with the assessment. But.... privileged upbringing? He wondered what that was about.

"Okay, Examinee 7111. Good catch. The fourth type of villain is called the Zero pointer and is worth no points. It's only an obstacle, so to speak. There's one of them in every battle centre. They'll go on a rampage whenever your time is almost up. It isn't impossible to defeat but you don't have any reason to defeat it either. I'd recommend that you try to avoid it." Present Mic explained.

"Thank you very much for your explanation!" the boy bowed deeply before sitting back down.

"Finally, I'd like to leave you all with a closing quote. The hero Napoleon Bonaparte once said, 'True heroism consists in being superior to the ills of life'. Go Beyond. Plus Ultra!" Present Mic finished with a cheer.

_Several Minutes Later - Battle Centre B_

Izuku stood in front of a large gate. He had switched out his uniform for some clothes that were more comfortable and suited to his fighting style. Taking a cursory look around, he spotted the girl who he met, and was saved by, at the gate. As he started walking towards her, he instinctively moved to the right and a hand fell through the air beside him.

He whirled around to see the boy with glasses who called him out in the auditorium. "That girl is trying to focus. Are you just here to interfere with everyone else's exams? Aren't you ashamed?" he asked to which Izuku blinked in confusion.

"I'm.... not sure what you mean."

"START!" All the examinees turned to Present Mic with surprise written all over their expressions. "What are you waiting for?! There are no countdowns in real life. The exam's already started!"

Izuku looked back towards the gate and was slightly startled to see everyone rushing in. He inhaled deeply and activated One for All, dashing ahead of everyone in seconds. He leapt on top of a building and scanned the surrounding area with the precision of a master hunter. The amber glow of his eyes faded when he spotted a group of robots coming from a direction somewhat out of the way of the other examinees and he narrowed his eyes.

Taking another deep breath, Izuku activated his chilling aura and jumped upon the robots. With both One for All and 'Frostbite' activated, he shattered and tore through the metal armour of the robots as if they were paper, and a predatory smile stretched unbidden across his features.

  


* * *

_Eight Hours Earlier_

Natasha puffed out a breath of smoke as she held a cigar between her middle and index finger. She had gotten here almost two hours ago and she still hadn't caught sight of her target. She was never a fan of waiting, but that didn't mean she didn't have patience. It was a virtue, after all. Not to mention that it was absolutely essential in her particular line of work. Her gaze drifted to the weapon next to her prone position and she smirked slightly. The VSS Vintorez Model IV, one of her favourites. And it wasn't just because she was Russian.

Natasha glanced up at the night sky. In just a few hours, Izuku was going to take part in the U.A. entrance exams. She wouldn't admit it to anyone else, but she was going to miss the infectious energy of her green-haired apprentice. She wondered how he'd cope with being stuck in that school all day. Staying still for long periods of time was a weakness of his that she had dealt with as best she could. His stealth skills were a far cry from what they used to be, and.... she was proud.

Not that she'd ever say that out loud.

A slight frown tugged on her lips as her thoughts strayed. What would Izuku think of her if he knew the truth about what she really did for a living? Talking about her profession wasn't something she really put that much thought into. It caused a lot of problems more often than not if someone like her revealed anything about what they did. Not that it mattered much, since Izuku already knew about it. Mostly. He didn't know about the killing part, and she wanted to keep it that way.

She didn't hate her 'job'—she was practically made for it—but discretion was a tiring rule to follow.

Most of the time, at least.

A soft moan of pain sounded from behind her and she spared the bound and gagged man a quick glance before turning away. Capturing him was child's play for someone of her calibre. Nearly silent screams came from behind the gag on his face and she rolled her eyes at his frantic struggles. She briefly debated just silencing him then and there, but dismissed the thought. He wasn't worth her failing the mission.

Her attention went back to the building she was supposed to be watching and she suppressed a groan of annoyance. Stakeouts were far from her favourite nighttime activity. Too much waiting, not enough action. She might bear a grudge against _them_ , but she couldn't change who she was. It was too late for that. Her finger was itching to pull the trigger, but there was a lot at stake and she was not a gambler. There was an order to these things and she didn't have to like it. She just had to follow it.

She pursed her lips and looked through her scope once again. Still nothing. She almost growled in frustration. The waiting game was something best left to assassins.... and that's what she was, wasn't it? Another growl bubbled up in her throat and she grit her teeth angrily. This was why she did not like thinking about her life (past?).

A cursory glance at the building was all it took for her to spot her target leaving. A small grin found its way upon her lips.

"Bingo, motherfu–"

**_BANG!_ **

Instinct was the only thing that saved her from having her head splattered all over the roof. Another shot rang out the moment she stood up and she narrowly dodged again.

Her captive was not quite as lucky. His chest exploded in a shower of gore and his eyes went wide, forever unseeing.

Natasha didn't hesitate to slide off the roof of the building, grabbing onto the edge to keep herself from having an uncomfortably long fall. Her sniper rifle felt heavier in her right hand and she almost let it fall. Three more shots rang out and one came way too close to the two fingers holding her up. Slinging her weapon over her shoulders, she pressed her right hand to side of the building and released her grip on the roof. She grunted softly as all her weight now hung from the four complete fingers on her weaker hand. Her left hand quickly found purchase on the wall as well and she quietly slipped down the side of the building and—hopefully—out of sight.

Natasha sighed deeply as she hid herself in a small corner of the building, away from eyes on the outside. A warm liquid trickled down her face and she put a hand to her temple, only for it to come away covered in blood. She grimaced slightly, "Guess I didn't dodge that first shot as well as I thought." she mumbled tiredly, looking at the liquid staining her finger-less gloves.

Her eyes squinted when she noticed something strange about the blood on her hand and it took her a moment to realise that the dark red liquid was actually discoloured. Her breathing became laboured and her vision blurred.

 _I hate poison._ She ignored the irony of her thoughts and leaned her head backwards, willing her Quirk to purge the toxin from her bloodstream. It was slow going, but it was working. The sound of footsteps echoed in the alley and Natasha cracked open an eye to see what was happening.

"Are you sure she went over the edge?"

"Yes, I'm sure."

"Alright then. Let's find this gal and get out of here before trouble comes along."

"Trouble? I thought the cops around here were on the boss's payroll."

"It's not–"

Natasha stilled as the voices moved closer and closer and the words turned to gibberish in her ears. The poison they hit her with was a powerful sleeping agent. Normal people would have been knocked out instantly, but she was anything but normal. There was no way she could get the poison out of her system before she was caught, so she would just have to go along with it for now.

She heaved a sigh and slowed her breathing when the footsteps were almost right in front of her.

_Well, here goes everything._

  


* * *

Kaoru Yukizawa didn't know what to expect when he was called in for a new mission in Tokyo. It wasn't as if it was his first time taking out a target in that city. But, he certainly didn't expect the target to be a girl who looked barely into her twenties. Now, he had taken out plenty of youths during his career—both in the military and after his discharge—but he felt that this one was different.

He was ultimately proven right when she somehow managed to—mostly—dodge his first shot and then proceed to flawlessly evade every shot he took after that. It was pure bad luck on his part that she was preoccupied when he first shot at her. He was also lucky that his second shot didn't hit her. He was not looking forward to the conversation he would have had if he did kill her. Of course, he was understandably surprised that she was still capable of escaping down the side of the building with a dose of _"Heart Stopper"_ in her system.

Needless to say, this was probably his weirdest night yet. Still, the feeling in his gut hadn't settled in the slightest and it concerned him.

He forced himself to ignore the feeling when they carried her body to the warehouse. An actual warehouse. His incredulity must have shown on his face since he saw two men clothed in black holding in their chuckles.

Kaoru waited patiently until he was paid for the job and only then did he take his leave. He couldn't get out of there fast enough.

  


* * *

Johan Quentin considered himself a good leader. Some people would call him evil, cruel, or even a sociopath. But they didn't know anything. He ran a business, and if he wanted to keep his business running, then he had to make certain choices. His business was successful, yes, but compared to the other big bosses in the city he still fell quite short. So when he caught wind of someone meddling in his affairs, he wasn't about to take it lying down. And that was leaving out the fact that it was a woman of all things.

So, the moment he found out, he hired his best sniper to capture her. Yes, capture, not kill. He would need to make an example out of her. Plus, his men would appreciate having an outlet to sate their desires seeing as how the last one.... broke. He didn't know what happened, nor did he particularly care. As long as it didn't affect his operations, then they could do as they pleased. So, it was with these thoughts in mind that he let himself be driven away from his storage warehouse and back to his luxurious mansion. He took a sip of his expensive red wine.

_Ah, the wonders of being me._

And then his vision went white. 

  


* * *

Conan watched with an excited grin as a slight female figure was carried in front of him. He didn't know who she was, but that didn't matter. Having another plaything was always a welcome addition. Working for the boss was the best thing to happen to him. He went from being a convicted criminal to having a clean slate in the span of three days. How that happened, he didn't know and he didn't care much either. All he cared about was that he was free to do what he wanted. He pushed those thoughts from his mind and walked over to the captive.

"Well, well, what do we have here?"

The redhead didn't respond and Conan frowned slightly before his eyes lit up in recollection.

"Ah, right. You can't hear me with that toxin in your system," he chuckled deeply, "It doesn't matter. I never much liked the ones that struggled, anyway."

He licked his lips and ran his gaze hungrily over her prone form. Her tight-fitting outfit perfectly outlined her lean and voluptuous form deliciously. The only sign that she was breathing was the slight rising and falling of her chest. He traced a hand down the centre of her suit and he could already feel himself getting hard just thinking of the things he would do to her. He briefly considered just tearing her outfit but decided against it. The anticipation would make the actual act all the sweeter. For him.

Conan turned around swiftly and starting gathering up his tools while undressing. They weren't going to need clothes for–

_Thud!_

Conan froze in his motions at the sound. He turned around in confusion and saw a body on the floor. He edged closer and closer until he felt his shoes make contact with a liquid. He didn't need to look down to know what it was, but he did anyway. What he saw left an ice cold feeling in his veins.

Blood.

A puddle of it. It pooled slowly around the motionless figure on the ground and Conan felt a prickle of fear run down his spine when he noticed the girl was missing. But she was supposed to be unconscious. They made sure of it. _"Heart Stopper"_ was impossible to resist. So how did she....?

Conan's questioning came to an abrupt halt as he suddenly found himself staring up at the ceiling and an upright headless figure. Wait, but wasn't he....?

His thoughts would never finish as his eyes dimmed and his lifeless body fell to the floor with a soft thud.

  


* * *

Natasha gripped her left side and hissed in shallow breaths through clenched teeth. The bleeding wasn't going to stop anytime soon and there was no way of telling how many gunmen were still lurking around.

In hindsight, causing such a large commotion was a terrible idea if she wanted a flawless escape. But she had slipped. It was foolish, she knew, but everything about that man just pissed her off. From the way he spoke to the way he walked. Every action he took just screamed of _depravity_.

She couldn't help but spend a little more time than was necessary to _"decorate"_ the scene with his body parts. She managed a small grin as she recalled the faces of the men who barged into the building. It was absolutely price.... less....

Natasha suppressed a grimace and pressed her palm harder into her side. She just needed to keep putting pressure on her wound. She needed to get to safety, and to do that she had to _focus_. Thinking about what had already happened wasn't going to help her in any way. She needed to stop the bleeding. She had to-

She froze for a split second as she heard a quiet thud behind her and she wasted no time in blending herself into a shadowy little corner. She kept her eyes almost fully shut as she waited for her follower to pass by. 1 second. 2 seconds. 3 seconds. 4 seconds. 5 seconds.... 10 seconds....

.... What?

She was certain that she heard someone following her. Could she have been mistaken? Was it because of the drug? Natasha stopped that train of thought. No, that couldn't be. Her instincts were never wrong. _They_ made sure of that. The hairs on her arms raised slightly and she directed her gaze upwards, narrowing her eyes and staring at the figure standing on the roof before her.

"Who are you?"

The man stayed silent for a while and she took the time to examine him. His outfit was black and red with blood-red eye lenses and his cowl helmet had what looked like horns protruding from it. Even with his suit covering him from head to toe, she could still make out the lean muscles coiled underneath. Strangely enough, there seemed to be some discolouring on certain parts of the suit.

Her gaze met his masked face when he finally spoke.

"I'm the one who's going to clean up your mess."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's all for chapter 3. No new important characters this time, just some ones that should be there. Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments.
> 
> Did I do a good job with the admittedly short interaction between Natasha and Daredevil? I hope that I gave them the credit they deserve. Their personalities are kind of different to fit this story so.... yeah.
> 
> Ciao.
> 
> ~ Sloth


	4. The First Day of the Rest of our Lives

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Izuku finally completes the entrance exam and begins his journey as a hero to be looked up to while navigating both his school and his social life; Natasha and Daredevil are forced on the run as enemies close in from all sides aiming for their heads.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter is here and ready to be read. Notes are getting shorter too.
> 
> Do Enjoy.

"I'm the one who's going to clean up your mess."

"Huh?"

Natasha couldn't help but recoil at the statement. The sheer certainty in his voice rubbed her the wrong way and she resisted the urge to punch him in the face. She settled for using her words instead.

"Fucking _what?"_

This was definitely not her day.

  


* * *

_Present Time_

In a dimly lit room, a group of people was sitting and watching several screens showcasing the participants of the entrance exam.

"In this examination, the examinees are given no information on the villains. They have no way to know of their numbers or location. All they can do is try to draw them out. And with the time limit, they have quite a large area to cover, but not much time to do so." A slightly high-pitched voice explained. A small white creature jumped onto a higher platform to see the screens better.

"To do well in this situation, they need four fundamental skills. The ability to gather information and understand the situation before anything else; The ability to move around unhindered by circumstances; The ability to discern potential threats and to stay calm in any situation. And of course, raw combat ability. These are the basic abilities needed to keep the peace. And these are what are needed to pass this exam."

The screen shifted again and again, showing the various examinees participating and demonstrating the aforementioned abilities before settling on Izuku. The green-haired teen was launching himself around the cityscape with a smile on his face. On the screen, Izuku dashed between robots a fair distance away from the other examinees, taking them down with increasing ease.

"This year's group looks rather promising, doesn't it?" another voice in the room asked.

"Don't be so quick to judge. Their true test is just about to begin." another voice chimed in before pushing a red button.

"Let's see how they deal with this."

  


* * *

Izuku's breath came in short slow pants as he stood among parts of destroyed robots. He breathed a sigh of exhaustion and directed his gaze at the sky, "That makes 85 points."

He turned around and leapt on top of another building while forming a sharp icicle in his right hand. A sudden loud explosion made him turn his head to see a building crumbling. What he saw rise from the debris was a gargantuan robot, towering over just about every building in the area. From what he could remember—which was technically everything—it was the Zero pointer. 

"That.... seems a bit too much." Izuku laughed nervously as he saw the robot tearing through buildings like they were built of papier-mâché. He heard screams and then watched as the other examinees ran away from the rampaging robot. He shook his head and turned before pausing. He looked back at the Zero pointer with a small frown and increased his hearing range. Once he reached a certain point, he could hear the sound clearer.

A scream.

His eyes widened at the sound coming from near the robot. The voice sounded female and somehow seemed familiar to Izuku. Not wasting even a moment to think, he launched himself in the direction of the sound.

Everyone stopped running as they saw what looked like a green human-shaped missile jump into the cloud of dust created by the robot's attack.

Everyone stopped running to see a green haired boy jump into the dust cloud created by the robot's punch.

Izuku came to a stop as he reached the area. His eyes quickly caught sight of two girls he recognised, one that he remembered was sitting next to him in the auditorium and the other that saved his face earlier. They had a large piece of rubble stuck on their legs and Izuku grimaced when he saw the position it was in. He wasted no time in dashing towards them and lifting the debris from their leg before throwing it away.

He crouched beside them worriedly and asked, "Can either of you walk?"

The purple-haired girl shook her head and the brunette answered with a grimace, "I-I don't think so. I think my ankle might be broken."

"M-Me too."

Izuku glanced back at the giant robot slowly approaching.

"Alright, hang on." he said as he picked them up bridal style and carried them over towards the other examinees one after the other. The girls each gave him a wobbly smile as he put them down.

The tall bespectacled blue-haired boy looked at Izuku with newfound respect as he muttered to himself, "I was rude to him earlier, but he saved those girls even when all of us just ran away." He adjusted his glasses with a new goal in mind.

"I have to apologise!"

Izuku made his way to the Zero pointer and looked up at him with a small smirk, "You're a big tin can, aren't you?" he mused as he rolled his shoulders and cancelled One for All, breathing a deep sigh as he felt the Quirk's flow dissipating.

"Sorry about that, but this'll need a bit more 'finesse'."

His smirk grew as he felt the familiar drop in temperature, but this time it fell even further than usual. Frost climbed up the walls of the buildings and the ground below him was frozen over in seconds. His icy blue eyes shined with an almost white glow as he glared at the Zero pointer.

The rest of the examinees were looking on in awe—and shivering—at the chilling power radiating from the boy. Taking a deep breath, Izuku pulled on as much of Frost's powers as he could handle and then some. He watched as the giant robot lumbered closer before placing a single hand to the ground. His voice came out as barely a whisper.

**"Ice Age."**

For a single beat, nothing moved.

And then in the next moment, the entire area in front of Izuku turned into ice. The robot stood frozen before falling into pieces as Izuku looked on impassively. After the pieces stopped falling, he extended both arms and all the ice covering the streets was absorbed into his body.

When he was done, all that remained were large pieces of the giant robot and cracked buildings as he casually strolled away from it with his hands stuffed in his pockets. The rest of the examinees had their mouths agape in shock.

The boy with the glasses was the first to recover and he stepped forward, bowing to Izuku, "My name is Tenya Iida! You have my sincere apologies for my rude behaviour earlier! I admit that I was wrong about you! You were the only one who turned back to save those girls while we were running away."

Izuku looked down at the boy with cold blue eyes, ".... Apology accepted."

His eyes flickered upwards as the boy straightened from his bow, "I'm Izuku Midoriya. Wish I could say it was–"

Izuku paused suddenly and blinked rapidly as his white hair shifted back to green, before sighing, "Well, guess that's it for me. I'm not good with people anyway." he muttered lowly. His blue irises faded and Izuku shook his head slightly, turning his attention to the now recovered purple-haired girl.

"Thanks for saving us back there," she said gratefully, twirling her earlobe around a finger, "It got pretty intense for a second there, huh?"

"Yeah! If it weren't for you, we would've been crushed! Oh, my name's Ochako Uraraka by the way."

The brunette seemed to be the more energetic of the two, he noted.

"Oh, uh, i-it's no problem. Just doing what any hero would've done." Izuku said with a small grin while scratching the back of his head awkwardly. Even after all these years, he still wasn't good at talking to girls. Especially pretty ones. Izuku blinked again as his vision blurred.

"Oh, uh, guys?"

Ochako, Tenya and the purple-haired girl turned to look at him.

"What is it, Midoriya?" the bespectacled teen asked.

"l'm about to pass out."

As Izuku's vision blacked out and he fell forward, he couldn't help but feel like he was forgetting something.

  


* * *

_The spirit of self-sacrifice._

_You would save anyone no matter the danger. And_ that _is what makes you a true hero, young Midoriya._

  


* * *

Two weeks later, Izuku sat in his house absentmindedly using his left hand to lift a dumbbell. He knew that he had gotten enough points to get admitted but his nerves still got the better of him.

"I-I-Izuku! It's here!"

He almost jumped in fright when his mother came running into the living room from the front door, holding an envelope in her hands. He still had no idea how his mother could be so stealthy. He took a glance at the envelope and his nerves flared up when saw the official U.A. stamp on it. He took the envelope with slightly shaking hands and swallowed a lump in his throat.

"Do you.... want to read it alone?"

Izuku nodded and made to retreat to his bedroom, but a ring from the doorbell gave him pause. He took a moment to ponder about who could be at the door. His mother wasn't having any visitors over as far as he knew, and he definitely didn't–

His mind screeched to a halt. Oh. There was one person that he.... forgot.

Izuku flinched at the sound of his mother's voice and turned towards the doorway. He caught sight of a head of blond hair and he sighed. _Speak of the devil and she shall appear._

_"Isn't that the truth."_

_Wait, wha–_

"Izu-kuun!"

His mind barely registered the shout before something crashed into him and nearly knocked him to the floor. Izuku just barely managed to find his balance and wrapped his arms around Himiko's body to steady them both.

"Izu-kun! Izu-kun! Izu-kun! I got in!"

She turned her bright yellow eyes up to meet his emerald ones with a wide grin, showing off her fangs in her excitement, "I did it! I got into U.A.!"

Her excitement was infectious and Izuku couldn't help but break into a broad smile as well, "Really? That's great! I knew that you could do it, Himi."

He patted her head and she let out a soft purr of content. They both froze when they heard a loud click and saw a flash of light.

Inko stood watching them with a mischievous grin on her face and a camera in her hands. Izuku's mouth dropped open as he stared at his mother in shock and his face burned brightly.

"Mom, why?!"

"Don't have too much fun yet, you two!"

"It's still not like that!"

"I'm not sure I'm ready for grandchildren!"

"MOM!"

Himiko just smiled wider from her place hanging onto Izuku as she watched the mother and son duo going back and forth. Her smile dropped and she pursed her lips in thought. She wondered what it would be like to have a real family.

  


* * *

Izuku sat in his room staring down at the envelope. His hands were folded beneath his chin as he spent several minutes looking at the envelope. He blinked in surprise when it was swiped from his desk and he looked to his left to see Himiko opening the envelope on his bed.

"You were taking too long."

To Izuku's surprise, instead of a letter, a small metal disk clattered onto his desk.

"I AM HERE AS A PROJECTION!"

He blinked in surprise as a hologram of All Might was projected from the metal disk. Izuku glanced back and forth from the disk to the projection in confusion for a few seconds.

"A hologram?" He chuckled and shook his head in amazement, "That's U.A. for you, I guess."

Himiko nodded in agreement and peered up at him as she laid herself across his lap, "Isn't it neat?"

"Apologies kiddo! I was too busy during the last two weeks to contact you!" The projection of All Might took a bow. "I'm afraid I haven't been completely honest with you! The reason I came to this city is because I have accepted a job as the newest member of U.A.'s faculty!"

Izuku wasn't very surprised at the confession. It didn't take him long to narrow down the list of reasons why All Might would be in Musutafu, and it took even less time to figure out the exact reason. Himiko, however, didn't have the advantage of being a massive hero nerd.

"I still can't believe _All Might's_ gonna be our teacher!"

All Might looked like he was about to say something else but the hero was distracted by someone out of frame. "What? I should get it over with? But I still have a few things I want to say! There's still more? How many of these am I going to do again....? WHAT?! Alright, fine!"

All Might cleared his throat and began speaking again, "You passed the written exam with flying colours! The top score in fact! That alone is enough to guarantee you a place in General Studies! In the practical exam you gained eighty five villain points! But, that isn't all there is to it!"

Izuku blinked in confusion as All Might gestured to a screen behind him, "Observe!"

A video began to play and Izuku recognised one of the girls he saved on the screen. He wondered why he was being shown this.

She looked slightly nervous when she approached Present Mic, "Excuse me? Sorry to bother you, but there was a boy in my exam. He had curly green hair and um, he was kind of plain looking."

Ah, so she was talking about him. "I was wondering if I could share some of my points with him? He passed out right after the exam. Could you please at least give him the points he lost because of me?"

Izuku's eyes widened and Himiko tilted her head curiously, "She shouldn't have done that for me. Why would she...."

He couldn't understand it.

The video continued playing.

Present Mic lifted a hand to pat the girl on the head, grinning in amusement. "No need to worry, little listener! You can't share points, but you won't need to!"

All Might stepped in front of the screen as the video ended, "Laying your life on the line for other people is what is expected of every hero! And there was a panel of judges looking for just that! You gained eighty-five villain points, and scored big on the rescue points, kid! You got sixty rescue points, all for a grand total of a hundred and forty-five points, making you not only the top scorer in this exam, but third place in the entire history of U.A.! Second only to Endeavour and myself!"

Izuku could have sworn his heart was about to give out from shock. He almost didn't react when Himiko threw herself into him, giggling with joy, "I knew you'd do awesome, Izu-kun!"

His own arms wrapped around her and a smile slowly stretched across his face. Izuku hugged her closer as he continued watching the recording, not noticing the tiny blush adorning her face. All Might held a hand out to him on the screen.

"Come, young Midoriya. This is your hero academia!"

  


* * *

Izuku could hardly believe how massive the interior of U.A.'s main building was. It may not have been his first time at the school, but he was never really allowed to wander any further than the training grounds, so just about everything else was new to him. It was a struggle just to find where his classroom was. His eyes darted around the hallway as he searched for his class.

When he finally found the door, he was mildly surprised by its sheer size. It was several times his own height, possibly for any student who might have a Quirk that made them bigger. Suddenly, a pair of hands covered his eyes and a very obviously—and poorly—disguised voice whispered in his ear.

"Guess who~"

"Were you even trying to hide, Himi?"

The hands removed themselves from his face and turned around to see Himiko pouting cutely. Izuku chuckled lightly before opening the 1-A class door to reveal a somewhat comical sight. Katsuki Bakugo had his feet up on his desk as he reclined in his chair and the boy with the glasses from the exam who called out Izuku was shouting at him.

"Remove your feet from that desk immediately!" he ordered Katsuki, "That is disrespectful to our upper classmates and those who made these desks!"

Katsuki scowled at him, "Who the hell are you to tell me what to do?"

The teen with the glasses moved his arms stiffly, like a robot, "I am from Soumei Private School. My name is Tenya Iida!"

"Soumei!?" Katsuki sneered derisively at him, "So, you're a damn elite then, huh? Just one more reason to crush you!"

_Of fucking course it had to be these two._

Tenya noticed Izuku standing quietly at the doorway, and quickly approached him, "Midoriya! It's good to see that you are doing well."

"Thanks, I–"

"Midoriya!"

Izuku was interrupted by the sudden shout from behind him. Looking back, he realised it was the girl from the exam—Ochako Uraraka, his mind supplied. But how did he know her name? Were they introduced before he passed out? That would explain how he knew her name. A bump to his side brought him back to reality and he looked down to see Himiko eyeing him questioningly.

"That attack you did was amazing! You completely destroyed that giant robot on your own!" Ochako said enthusiastically.

Tenya nodded, "It truly was an incredible display. You even figured out the true purpose of the practical exam. I am humbled to admit that you surpassed me during the exam!"

Having overheard the conversation, Katsuki's brows furrowed in confusion and he shifted unconsciously to lean closer to listen in. _There's no way the nerd did that. He doesn't even have a damn Quirk._

But then, why were the other two acting like he did? Katsuki wondered, turning his gaze to Izuku. He gritted his teeth in anger and felt his rage boiling over the longer he watched.

"If you're just here to make friends, then do us all a favour and leave now."

The entire class turned to look at the source of the voice, and many of them jumped when they saw what looked like a giant yellow caterpillar with a man's face. He looked as if he hadn't slept in days and forgot how to shave.

"This is the Hero course. Get your act together."

The man's voice was low and tired, and it reminded Izuku of someone, but he just couldn't remember who.

The man crawled out of his sleeping bag and walked to the front of the classroom, "It took you all 8 seconds to quiet down. You kids are too irrational. My name is Shota Aizawa, I'm you homeroom teacher. Pleased to meet you."

Since that guy was their homeroom teacher, then he must be a Pro Hero. But Izuku didn't recognise him. Well, at least, not at first. It took him a few seconds to match the clothes to the hero.

Eraserhead.

_Our teacher is an underground hero? Nice._

_"Current Threat Assessment: Undetermined."_

Izuku wondered about that one as Aizawa reached into his sleeping bag and pulled out a pile of blue and white uniforms, "Put on these uniforms and meet me on the field."

  


* * *

When Izuku and his classmates finally arrived at the designated area—after being lost for five minutes straight, his internal clock supplied unhelpfully—they saw Mr. Aizawa leaning a pole off to the side.

"It took you five minutes to get here," the scruffy looking man said, "Not bad, but not great either. We'll have to work on that."

"But for now, we have other things to worry about." His words caused a slight commotion among the students.

"You all remember the exercises you did in middle school, right?" Aizawa asked, "The physical fitness tests where you couldn't use Quirks? Speaking honestly, it isn't rational that using Quirks isn't a standard yet. Nevertheless, today you will all be redoing these exercises, _with_ your Quirks."

"Wait," Ochako interjected, "Aren't we going to miss the introduction ceremony if we're out here doing this?"

"If you want to be heroes, you won't have time for that," Aizawa said, staring intensely at her through his shaggy black hair, "U.A. is this successful because of the freedom allowed on the campus. Teachers are also allowed to run their class however they see fit."

Izuku really didn't like the way he said that.

Aizawa pulled a tablet out from his pocket that was linked to the school system, "Let's start with a demonstration. Midoriya, you got the highest score in the entrance exam. How far could you throw a softball in middle school?"

Izuku fidgeted slightly when he noticed everyone's attention on him. Their curiosity hit him first before it was crushed by a fiery rage. He didn't even need to look to know who the raw anger he felt radiating towards him was coming from.

"Oh, uh, 62 metres."

"Alright then.... since you scored the highest on the entrance exam, why don't you go first?" he said as he tossed a softball at the boy and pointed lazily at a circle on the ground used for the softball pitch. "Use your Quirk. It doesn't matter what you do as long as you don't leave the circle. Just don't hold back."

Izuku stretched a bit before he walked into the circle, silently psyching himself up for his display. He glanced back and saw Himiko and Ochako quietly cheering him on.

"Before you can begin training, your limits must be tested. That is how we form the basis for your hero training."

Izuku's eyes turned icy blue and blue lightning sparked around him as he activated One for All. His hair fell to frame his face and he drew back his right arm.

"Iceberg Smash!" he shouted as he threw the ball with all of his might. Freezing winds buffeted the area and lines of frost crept across the ground around Izuku. The class watched Izuku with awe as they saw his impressive throw. Aizawa waited for several seconds until the ball landed and then he checked the distance.

He showed the class the final distance and they were shocked into silence when they saw how far they ball had gone.

981.5 metres.

"You've gotta be kidding!" A boy with spiky red hair shouted in astonishment, "He threw it that far?! That's awesome!"

A girl with pink hair and skin and yellow eyes grinned and bounced on her feet excitedly, "We can use our Quirks however we want? That sounds fun!"

"Fun, huh?"

Aizawa's demeanour shifted and the hair on the back of Izuku's neck stood up. Ah, that explained why he registered as such a threat.

"I'm sorry, were you planning on having fun during your time here? If that's the case, let's change things up a bit. The student who gets the worst score in the eight tests will be judged as having zero potential and will be expelled."

"Wait a minute!" an invisible girl—from what Izuku could tell judging by the body shape, at least—protested. "This is only our first day! That's totally unreasonable!"

"That is the life of a hero." their teacher was unaffected by her outburst, "Earthquakes, tsunamis, freak accidents, villain attacks.... these things happen when we least expect it. The job of a hero is to help restore order. If you were thinking that this was going to be all fun and games, then I'll burst that bubble now. For the next three years.... U.A. will run you through the wringer. That's "Plus Ultra". Use your strength to overcome it all."

After that short speech, the exercises began.

  


* * *

Izuku glanced to his side and saw Katsuki glaring at him as they lined up for the 50-metre dash. He rolled his eyes at the blond and focused on his path. As far as he knew, he couldn't increase his speed without One for All, so that's what he was going to use. Izuku breathed deeply to calm his nerves and allowed the Quirk to flow through his body again.

The moment they got the go ahead, Izuku pushed 25% of One for All to his legs and Katsuki blasted off at the same time. He didn't take the time to look back as he skidded to a halt a full 100-metres away from the finish line. He blinked in confusion and turned around to see some of his classmates staring at him in shock. He smiled nervously at them and hid a wince as pain flared in his legs.

_"Mild bruising on legs: Non-severe."_

_Probably shouldn't have overdone it like that. Heh–ow_.

Izuku took a look at his score and grinned in pride when he saw his time. _2.05 seconds. Not bad for 25%._

Something attached itself to his arm and he looked down at Himiko in surprise, "Uh, Himi? Wha–"

She shushed him and smiled widely up at him. Izuku just closed his mouth and sighed, shaking his head. Feeling a sudden burst of jealousy, he turned to see a very small boy with grape-like hair glaring at him like he killed his puppy. He stared at him in confusion before shrugging and dragging Himiko along to the rest of the tests.

  


* * *

Izuku stared at the grip tester in his left hand, looking conflicted as he pondered how to go about this particular test. Glancing around, he saw everyone else using their Quirks in different ways to aid them. Well, the ones who actually could, at least. Sighing once again—he should really stop doing that—Izuku decided on his course of action rather quickly. Looking at the machine in his hand, he simply willed Frost's power into himself, froze its structure slightly and then shattered it to pieces with One for All.

His face dropped when he saw Aizawa staring at him with a deadpan expression. "Oh, was I.... not supposed to break the machine....?"

The hero somehow looked at him with an even more deadpan expression before shaking his head with a deep sigh of.... regret? "No, you were not. I'll just put that down as immeasurable."

A soft grumble of "Problem child" met Izuku's ears and he smiled apologetically.

"What the fuck was that, Deku?!"

Izuku was startled by the strong emotions coming from Katsuki as the Explosion user launched himself at the green-haired boy. The the sheer _hate_ radiating from him was almost enough to make Izuku puke. Fortunately, before the blond boy could do anything, his palms stopped emitting sparks and he was wrapped up by a scarf before he could even feel confused by the loss of his Quirk.

"Huh? What the hell is this thing?! Why can't I use my Quirk?!"

Everyone looked towards Mr. Aizawa to see him standing tall with his hair floating and his eyes glowing red, "To answer your first question, this is a special capture weapon made from carbon nano-fibres, nearly unbreakable. And as for your second, I erased your Quirk."

"What?!"

"Bakugo," the scruffy looking man said harshly, "I don't know what gave you the idea that you can just use your Quirk on anyone whenever you feel like it, but this behaviour will _not_ be tolerated at U.A. I will not warn you a second time."

The cloth keeping Katsuki restrained relaxed and allowed him to go free. Mr. Aizawa sighed as he deactivated his Quirk, "Now stop making me use my Quirk. It gives me dry eye."

 _So, this is a Pro Hero...._ Izuku thought in amazement. _He's almost as fast as I am without One for All._ Those thoughts fuelled the fire in Izuku's heart and he almost trembled in excitement.

_H̴̛̦͉̩̪̑͆e̸̼̦̥͉̿͌ ̷̛͇͖c̸̡͈͓̽̆ō̵͇̹̮̈̊̾u̵̡͓̱͈͂̅l̶̜̑͂̿d̶͚̓̂̇̾n̶͓̙̏͝'̵̺̮ṭ̸̊ ̶̖̖̈́̈́͛w̵̩̞͉͌͌̓ḁ̶̺̄̔ỉ̸̩͕͐̋t̷̨̮͛̚ ̷̢̐́t̸̤͗̋̚o̴̫̣̳̿ ̸̛̯͈͈s̷̱̞̈͗̏̄ę̵̃e̶̟̻̐ ̵̮̑̅̊̽t̴̟̪̺̿̐h̴̛̻͈̲̱̅ē̵͓̲̇̈́̚ ̷̂ͅȁ̸̧̪̦͋ͅl̷͕̥̔̓̃p̷̩̙̝̉̉͛͗h̴̢̟͋̕͝a̸̛̼̲̝̐̾͜s̷̠̻̹͎͐̀̐̓.̷̡́̃͘͠_

  


* * *

The rest of the tests passed by rather quickly for Izuku.

"Wow! I can't believe that you're so flexible." The energetic pink-haired girl said with a huge grin after they finished the seated toe touches. Izuku rubbed the back of his neck nervously. He wasn't all that great. The real winners were the girl with the frog Quirk and Himiko. He didn't want to reveal all of his skills right off the bat, after all.

_"Keep your enemies guessing."_

That was one of the first things Natasha taught him.

Afterwards, they moved on to the sit ups, which went by the fastest in his opinion. A hundred and fifteen of them later and he finds himself staring at seventeen surprised students.

"Holy crap! What are you made of?!" The grape-haired child cried in surprise.

"That was so manly!" A teen with spike red hair exclaimed in excitement.

Izuku flushed slightly from the praise, "Oh, uh, t-thanks."

The boy grinned toothily and gave him a thumbs up.

Izuku didn't do exceptional well with the pull ups, but he was still within the top five. The sidesteps had mostly the same results, though he was impressed by the ingenuity the grape-headed boy displayed with his Quirk. The distance run showed Izuku just how much stamina his classmates had. Again, only some of them, seeing as how a girl _literally_ created a moped and drove around the entire track. Now, that wasn't something Izuku couldn't beat, but he still wanted to keep at least some of his cards to himself. The rest of the tests passed by in a similar fashion.

For the standing long jump, Izuku watched as a blond boy launched himself with a laser coming from his navel, only to fall halfway. Aside from him, the grape-haired boy and a few others who couldn't do much with their Quirks, everyone else passed without much trouble.

Izuku himself just used 15% of One for All to clear the sandbox. It helped to lessen the strain on his legs since the damage from using his max output was already bad enough. He didn't need to make it worse.

Izuku watched from the sidelines as his classmates completed the softball throw. It was Katsuki's turn next and he knew exactly what was coming. Looking over at Himiko, he was glad to see that she had taken his advice to heart and plugged her ears. Another glance at his classmates revealed to him the same violet-haired girl that he saved during the entrance exam. He stared at her for a moment before remembering her Quirk.

His eyes widened and he rushed over to where she stood as fast as he could, knowing his shout wouldn't reach her in time for her to prepare herself.

His palms gently clamped down over her ears at the exact moment that Katsuki decided to throw.

"DIE!"

The blond angrily threw the ball and released a gargantuan explosion, sending the ball flying for several seconds before it fell. Even with her ears being covered, the violet-haired girl flinched at the noise. Izuku winced as well. Apparently, his hearing wasn't as toned down as he had thought.

"Uh, not that I don't appreciate the help, but do you think you could back off?"

Izuku snapped out of his thoughts and moved back with a nervous smile and a slight blush on his face, "Sorry about that."

The girl looked at him and recognition flashed in her eyes, "Hey, you're that guy who saved me in the exam."

"Y-Yeah, that's me. Nice to officially meet you, um...."

"Kyoka Jiro. Didn't get to introduce myself before you passed out."

"That happens sometimes."

Kyoka regarded him curiously, "You're a really weird guy, Green bean."

"G-Green bean?"

"Yeah, it's a nickname, obviously," she said with a huff when she saw the look on his face, "If you don't like it, I can stop."

Izuku waved her off frantically, "N-No, it's alright. I kinda like it when you say it." The last part was mumbled too quietly for any normal person to pick up on, but the slight flush on Kyoka's face made it clear that she had heard him.

"Jeez, don't go saying stuff like that."

"Sorry."

"And stop apologising so much."

"Sorry. I mean, oops."

Kyoka sighed and shook her head in bemusement. Great, her new friend was the most awkward person she had ever met. She paused at that. Friend? A small smile graced her lips. _Maybe that won't be too bad, after all._

They looked back at the rest of the class just in time to see Ochako get a score of infinity.

After all the tests were done the students gathered around Aizawa, all of them out of breath except Izuku, who was only breathing slightly heavier than usual.

"So, who's the unlucky one?" a boy with a black lightning bolt shaped highlight in his blond hair asked nervously. Aizawa looked at them with an impassive gaze and brought up the results on his tablet. Two rows were displayed with every name listed in the order of their overall scores.

1\. Izuku Midoriya  
2\. Momo Yaoyorozu  
3\. Shoto Todoroki  
4\. Katsuki Bakugo  
5\. Tenya Iida  
6\. Fumikage Tokoyami  
7\. Mezo Shoji  
8\. Mashirao Ojiro  
9\. Eijiro Kirishima  
10\. Himiko Toga

11\. Mina Ashido  
12\. Ochako Uraraka  
13\. Koji Koda  
14\. Rikido Sato  
15\. Tsuyu Asui  
16\. Yuga Aoyama  
17\. Hanta Sero  
18\. Denki Kaminari  
19\. Kyoka Jiro  
20\. Toru Hagakure  
21\. Minoru Mineta

Unsurprisingly to Izuku, the diminutive Minoru Mineta was in last place. The tiny boy looked like he was about to start crying before Mr. Aizawa spoke.

"When I said that you would be expelled earlier. I lied."

Izuku.... was honestly not very surprised. Their teacher just seemed like that kind of person.

Aizawa's grin showed everyone that it was in fact a 'lie', "It was simply a logical ruse designed to bring out the best of your Quirks."

"What?!"

Momo raised an eyebrow, "Well, of course he wasn't actually going to expel any of us. I thought that was obvious from the start."

Izuku shook his head, "That's not really true. I heard that he expelled his entire class last year, so I don't see why he wouldn't do it again."

"R-Really?" Momo looked genuinely shocked by his statement, as did the rest of his classmates. "S-Sir, is that true?"

Aizawa ignored the question and walked off the field, "The papers for your curriculum are in the classroom. Read them over."

Their teacher was a bit of a dick.

  


* * *

_Two Weeks Earlier_

Daredevil dodged another slash by a hair's breadth and was immediately forced to duck under the second blade aiming for his neck. He lashed out with his baton and knocked down another knife wielder.

He paused briefly to take a breath when a body suddenly slammed into his side, knocking the wind out of him. As he struggled to his feet, he noticed what sounded like a small army of heartbeats.

He gritted his teeth and sent his fist into the face of an incoming enemy, feeling their nose crunch beneath his knuckles. The skill of their pursuers wasn't high, but there were many of them and he was slowing down. He could tell she was too. Her heartbeat was steady in the beginning, but that changed after 3 hours straight of combat.

A gunshot rang out and the man in red turned his unseeing gaze to his new 'ally'. The female assassin was mowing through the enemy lines like an angel of death. Blood spattered the walls and streets and Daredevil fought back a grimace as the pungent scent of blood invaded his nostrils.

He didn't know exactly who she was was, but they had more pressing matters to attend to. Namely, the heavily-armed reinforcements en route to their position. They both retreated and went back to back, breathing heavily. Daredevil took a deep breath before speaking, "We have a problem."

He could practically hear her eye-roll, "No shit, Sherlock. How'd you figure that one out? Was it the _literal_ ground shaking sound of footsteps?"

He decided to ignore her remark as her heartbeat picked up again. He knew what that meant. She was worried about something, but it wasn't the time for that. They needed to leave. Now.

The footsteps were much closer and he felt the woman behind him tense up in preparation, but he could hear her exhaustion, the minute changes in her breathing, the slight increase of her heart rate. All feelings he was experiencing as well.

They had to get out of there and get to somewhere safer.

The problem was he didn't know where.

Daredevil wracked his brain for a solution, and one finally came to him. He knew his companion wasn't going to like it, and neither would he, but they didn't have much of a choice. Thinking quickly, the vigilante took several hard steps to find the telltale rattling of a manhole and set to work removing the covering. The assassin looked at him in shock and disgust.

".... Please tell me you're not actually thinking of going down there."

Daredevil glanced at her blankly before replying, "We don't have much of a choice."

With that, he jumped. Away from the moon's cruel gaze.

And into the darkness below.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's all for now. How was it? Comments are appreciated. Except if they don't serve any useful purpose.
> 
> I'll see you on the flip side.
> 
> ~ Sloth


	5. A Flash of Destruction

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Izuku starts having strange dreams that affect him more than he lets on; All Might has his first class with 1-A and pits two childhood enemies against each other, to terrible results.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the extended delay. This has been a long time coming, I know. It's been a while since the last update, but things are piling up on me and I'm pretty lazy.
> 
> Read and enjoy.

It was cold.

Why is it so cold?

He couldn't move.

Why can't he move?

He couldn't feel anything.

Why can't he feel anything?

He couldn't breathe.

Why can't he breathe?

_Why can't he–_

  


* * *

Izuku shot up with a start. His heart was pounding like a drum in his chest. He took deep shuddering breaths as he curled into himself, shivering in fear.

He was scared.

Whatever that dream was about, he didn't like it. It terrified him and it made him feel weak and insignificant and he hated feeling weak. He wasn't weak.

_He wasn't._

He couldn't remember why he was scared, just that he was.

He calmed his breathing and shifted to take a look at his alarm clock. His vision was limited in the darkness of his room, but he managed to make out the neon red numbers; 3:05 AM. Izuku sighed deeply and decided that sleep could wait. Not that he could have fallen asleep after a dream like that, anyway.

The bed frame creaked slightly as he rose from his mattress. He stretched his limbs to loosen them and did some light exercises.

"A run seems like a good idea right about now." Izuku muttered as he quietly made his way to the living room. His mother was still sleeping, and he didn't want to wake her over something like this. She deserved to rest.

He'd deal with it alone.

Izuku put on his running shoes and quickly and quietly slipped through the door. The morning wind nipped at his bare arms and his breath came out in puffs of condensed air.

Closing the door behind him, he started his jog, moving swiftly down the streets. The few people who were awake wandered about aimlessly. The further he went from home, the less people he saw. Before long, Izuku was far enough that there was no sign of life in sight. He slowed his pace and found himself at the edge of a forest.

He stared into the darkness shrouding the trees in silence. This scene seemed.... familiar somehow. He shook his head and turned around to head home. The sun was starting to rise and he didn't want his mother to worry.

Izuku was half-way home when it finally hit him.

_Musutafu didn't have any forests._

  


* * *

The second day at U.A. started like any other.

Izuku adjusted his tie once again and looked at himself in the mirror. _Still crooked_ , he thought with a sigh. How he kept messing it up was a mystery to him. His mother wasn't much better though, so at least he wasn't the only one bad at it.

By the time he was finished getting ready, his mother was already at work, leaving him to lock up the house on his own before leaving the apartment building.

The train ride to U.A. was quiet and uneventful. Halfway through the journey, he let himself sink into his thoughts and remained that way until he reached his destination.

"Hey, kid. This is your stop, isn't it?"

Izuku was pulled out of his mind by an unfamiliar male voice. He looked up and saw that the man was right, "Oh, right. Thank you, sir."

He exited the train and made his way onto the U.A. campus. His path took him straight to his classroom and he took a steadying breath before entering.

"Izu-kun~"

Izuku started slightly when he saw the emptiness of the room. Evidently, he was the first one here, excluding Himiko, of course. She waved at him from the front corner of the room and Izuku took the seat next to her, smiling softly, "Hey, Himi. What are you doing here so early?"

"Oh, I-I just felt like being early today, I guess."

Izuku frowned at that. She was definitely hiding something—she wouldn't have lied otherwise. But, if she didn't want to say anything, then he wasn't going to push it.

He relaxed into his chair and Himiko attached herself to his left arm. She had always been very touchy, but he didn't really mind it. Izuku rolled up his sleeve, presenting his bare arm to her. It was bare for scarcely a moment before her fangs sank into his flesh and she proceeding to drink deeply. When Himiko was done, she pulled away and licked the puncture marks, causing them to close immediately.

Izuku pulled down his sleeve and they remained in silence as they waited for their classmates to arrive. Fortunately, they didn't have to wait long before the rest of 1-A started pouring in.

Izuku pulled away from Himiko with a final pat on her head, flashing her a smile as homeroom began with Mr. Aizawa looking just as sleep deprived as the day before.

  


* * *

Following homeroom, the first half of the day consisted of the general subjects that all students were required to take—English, Math, Science, Literature, etc. All of it was pretty boring in comparison to their other lessons, which took place after lunch at noon. In Izuku's defence, he only found them boring because he already knew most of it by heart. Though, Foundational Hero Studies was the only one he really wanted to come around. And frankly, it was what every student looked forward to the most.

And that wasn't taking into account the teacher in charge of the class.

"I AM...."

Izuku and the rest of Class 1-A whipped their heads towards the door, which flew open to reveal the famous figure of the number one hero, All Might. "COMING THROUGH THE DOOR LIKE A NORMAL PERSON!"

"Whoa, it's really All Might!"

"He's wearing his costume from the Silver Age!"

"That design is super retro!"

All Might took his place at the front of the class. "Welcome to Foundational Hero Studies! In this class, we will be building up your foundation as heroes through various trials! And today your first trial is Combat training!"

Katsuki grinned like a madman, "Fuck yes!"

"And before you start your first battles...." All Might pulled out a remote and used it to activate a far wall, causing several sections of the wall to slide out. Inside were cases with each of the students' seat numbers displayed on them, "We have the gear from your costume orders that you requested for your Quirks! Get changed and gather up at Ground Beta!"

All Might was waiting for them, smiling as widely as ever as the young heroes-in-training arrived one by one at Ground Beta. "They say the clothes make the hero, ladies and gentlemen! From now on, you're all heroes!"

Before long, they'd all gathered up. All Might's grin widened. "I'm digging everyone's styles! Very cool!"

Izuku was the last to arrive, having taken more time than he expected to put on his costume. He looked himself over now that he was outside and found his style rather fitting. His costume was a green and blue jumpsuit—one his mother had given him as a gift for making it into U.A. His head was left bare except for a metallic communications device on the side of his head, stretching from his temple to behind his ear.

He wore black fingerless gloves—a gift from Natasha—elbow and knee braces, and a red utility belt. He also had a mask that covered the lower half of his face. It was metallic and prioritised functionality, though it wasn't particularly hard to breathe in. His whole costume was insulated—a necessary feature because of Frost.

Despite him wearing the mask, Ochako recognised him pretty quickly and bounced over with a smile. "Hey, that's a nice costume, Izuku! It's so cool! I like it!"

Izuku blushed furiously upon seeing Ochako's costume, which was a black and white skintight bodysuit. She had large, knee high white shoes and a clear visor covering her face not very unlike that of an astronaut's. The girl rubbed the back of her head nervously. "I guess I wasn't very clear when I turned in my costume design. They gave me this skintight costume instead.... it's kind of embarrassing."

"Actually, I think it looks good on you," Izuku said, taking a moment to realise what she had said before, "W-Wait, did you just call me...."

Ochako noticed him trail off and picked up on his meaning, "Oh yeah, I.... can call you Izuku, right?"

The green-haired boy nodded wordlessly, too embarrassed to say anything. He couldn't have been more glad that his mask covered so much of his face with the way his cheeks were burning.

"Great! Thanks, Izuku!"

Minoru was ogling Ochako not far away and grinned lecherously as he muttered to himself, "The Hero Course is the best!"

Izuku's sensitive hearing picked up on what the guy was saying and he narrowed his eyes at him, making a mental note.

All Might slightly raised one eyebrow as he took in Izuku's costume, specifically the darker section of his mask that looked eerily similar to All Might's own wide grin, if a tad more twisted.

"Sir!" a voice Izuku instantly recognised as Tenya's cut through the air as a figure clad in white armour raised a hand. "Will we be using the same replica city from the Entrance Exam for this training?!"

All Might grinned again, "In a way, yes! However, we will be doing indoor battle training! A lot of villain cleanup is seen in the open, but statistically, the better part of it is an indoor job. The smartest of villains tend to commit their crimes out of sight from others. Kidnappings, break-ins, the black market.... a lot of that goes on in the shadows! For this test, you'll be separated into two-man teams of heroes and villains, then duke it out in two-on-two combat! However, since we have an odd number of students, one team will have an extra member!"

"How do we determine who wins or loses?"

"How much can we hurt the other team?!"

"We won't get expelled like Mr. Aizawa said, right?"

"How do we choose teams?"

"Isn't this cape fantastic?"

All Might was briefly overwhelmed by the questions, but just grinned and bore with it, "I will answer all of your questions!"

He pulled out a small sheet of paper which Izuku realised—with no small amount of exasperation—was a script, "Listen up, the scenario for this training is that a pair of villains have hidden a nuclear weapon somewhere in the building! The hero team is to infiltrate the building and stop their nefarious plans before it's too late! If the heroes capture either the villains or the weapon, they win! In turn, if the villains capture the heroes or keep them away from the weapon until time is up, they win!"

"As for teams, they'll be randomly chosen by lottery!"

Tenya had a puzzled look, "But wouldn't it be more advantageous to choose our own partners?"

Izuku shook his head at the question, "Well, yes, but more often than not, Pro Heroes have to create makeshift teams with other heroes that they aren't familiar with. There's no way to prepare for unexpected situations, after all."

"I see!" Tenya exclaimed, "I apologise for the interruption!"

All Might simply grinned and nodded, "Anyways, here we go! These are the teams!"

He pulled out two slips of paper at a time and announced the teams one after another.

"Team A: Midoriya and Jiro!"

"Team B: Shoji and Todoroki!"

"Team C: Yaoyorozu and Mineta!"

"Team D: Bakugo and Iida!"

"Team E: Ashido and Aoyama!"

"Team F: Koda and Sato!"

"Team G: Uraraka and Kaminari!"

"Team H: Asui, Toga and Tokoyami!"

"Team I: Hagakure and Ojiro!"

"Team J: Kirishima and Sero!"

Izuku looked over at Kyoka and he smiled slightly beneath his mask, "H-Hey, Jiro. Glad to have you on my team, and uh, I like your costume."

Kyoka rolled her eyes at his stutter and shot him a hard stare, "You really do stutter a lot around me, don't you?"

It was a rhetorical question, but Izuku still winced slightly as he answered, "Y-Yeah, I know...."

"Great. First friend in high school being a stuttering mess? Check."

Izuku was almost positive he was going to pass out from excessive blood rushing to his face by the time the day ended. _I'm her first friend?!_ The fact that he disregarded the rest of her statement was conveniently forgotten.

All Might then produced a pair of boxes, which were labelled as "Hero" and "Villain" respectively. He reached into the opening at the top and pulled out a pair of balls with a letter on each one. A and D.

"Team D will be the heroes! Team A will be the villains!"

 _We're playing the bad guys_ , Izuku realised. _And the heroes are Iida and...._ Izuku looked back at Katsuki who sent him a bloodthirsty grin.... _Bakugo._

_Uh-oh. ___

All Might crossed his arms and continued, "The villains will start inside the building. You'll all have five minutes to formulate a strategy and then the heroes will be able to enter the building as well! The rest of the class and myself will be watching from the surveillance room! Since this is practice training, feel free to fight it out without fear of injury! Of course, if things get too extreme, I'll cut the exercise short! Other than that, give it your all!"

____

  


____

* * *

____

Tenya Iida was.... concerned, in a sense. His partner had proven himself to be quite a powerful and intelligent combatant, but that wasn't what gave him pause. Katsuki pacing back and forth before the entrance to their test building growling and muttering viciously with palms already popping with small explosions and a snarl twisting his face, did. The bespectacled teen didn't know how to calm the blond down either. There was no reason he could see for such hostility.

____

What was easy to see, however, was the fact that Katsuki Bakugo had no qualms about not holding back against their opponents, which was alarming on its own. Never mind the fact that the blond seemed especially angry at Izuku.

____

"Can you please calm down?" Iida asked, again, for the umpteenth time. Even with his hero costume equipped, giving him a rather knightly appearance, his displeasure at his partner's behaviour was noticeable.

____

Without missing a beat, Katsuki merely raised a gloved hand and flipped Tenya the bird.

____

"Fuck off, Four-Eyes!"

____

Iida sighed, deciding to ignore the offensive and vulgar gestures and language of his partner. If this was how he was going to behave the entire time, then it would be a miracle if they won.

____

"Why don't you–" Before Tenya could finishing forming his sentence, a sharp buzzing of an alarm signalled the start of the exercise.

____

  


____

* * *

____

_Five Minutes Earlier_

____

____

"So, what's the plan, Green bean.... Green?"

____

Izuku remained quiet, occasionally muttering something under his breath as he paced around the inside of the building. Kyoka watched him for a moment before sighing and poking him with one of her earphone jacks. The shock brought him out of his thoughts with a short yelp.

____

"H-Huh? Did you say something?"

____

The girl rolled her eyes, "I asked if you have a plan. Because I've got nothing. At all."

____

Izuku grinned sheepishly, "O-Oh, yeah, well," he paused for a moment as his eyes traced the building while they walked, memorising its interior layout, "Bakugo's definitely coming for me right off the bat. And Iida will probably try to get to the bomb. So, that means we'll have to put the bomb somewhere that'll be hard for him to get to and then capture, or at least keep him away from the bomb until time runs out."

____

Kyoka nodded along with his plan. She had to admit, he was pretty good at strategy, "But what are we going to do about Bakugo? I doubt he'd just let himself get captured. He really seemed to have it out for you specifically."

____

Izuku winced imperceptibly, "That's.... going to be the slightly harder part. But, I think I have a plan for that too."

____

Kyoka pursed her lips at that. _He doesn't sound very sure, but...._ she sighed softly, _it's not like I have a better idea._

____

"Alright, let's hear this plan of yours."

____

Izuku grinned confidently under his mask, "Don't worry, I know we can pull this off."

____

She really hoped he was right.

____

  


____

* * *

____

The hero team of Bakugo and Iida reached the last untouched room of the first floor in a state of increasing annoyance. There was no clue of their opponents' whereabouts to be found yet, and only one of them truly cared about gathering information before. The other couldn't care less about anything else other than finding his target. Making their way to the stairs in hopes of better luck on the next floor, Katsuki decided he'd finally had enough.

____

"DEKU! WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU?!"

____

The blond's scream reverberated through the empty building so strongly that it caused Iida to cringe away because of the ringing in his ears.

____

The bespectacled teen prepared to chastise his loudmouth of a partner, again, for his choice of language when a voice gave them pause.

____

"I'm right here, Kacchan." Came Izuku's mocking voice from the top of the stairs. Snapping their heads up, the hero team saw the cryomancer standing on the landing, just looking down at them.

____

Tenya could swear on his _life_ that he felt the temperature drop at least twenty degrees Celsius after the name was thrown out, and it wasn't because of Izuku's Quirk. He would have never thought that it was once a term of endearment and not an insult.

____

"Deku.... don't you fucking dare call me that!" Katsuki growled dangerously, both his hands open and dripping with sweat from running all over the first floor.

____

The green-haired teen simply smiled sharply and darted up the stairs. Not expecting such an action, it took a moment for the blond to process that it had just happened. But when he did....

____

"Come back here, you fucking DEKU!"

____

Bakugo roared in terrible anger as he ran up the stairs, chasing his one-sided nemesis as if nothing else mattered. Tenya moved to follow, but stopped as soon as he reached the second floor when he noticed something. Coal black footprints, scattered around one of the hallways.

____

"A trail?" Tenya wondered muttered, peering down the footprint covered hall. "Coming from the second floor?"

____

It couldn't be that simple, he rationalised. Logically speaking, it was most probably a trap. But what if it wasn't? It was a chance he hesitated to take, but it was also the only one he had other than chasing after Bakugo. And he couldn't see that ending well, at all.

____

Making up his mind—and leaving Katsuki to handle himself—the bespectacled teen followed the trail of footprints until he reached the hallway at the end of the corridor. On the floor, footprints were splattered about. It seemed as if Midoriya had been in a rush when he left. But that still didn't explain where the paint came from.

____

"So that was your plan? Lure us upstairs and away from the bomb?" Iida thought out loud, "I suppose they didn't have much time to decide on a more elaborate plan."

____

The bespectacled teen continued down the main hall, keeping an eye out for the rocker girl, just in case there might be an ambush. It was very likely that she was waiting on the other side of the door, but he didn't want to take that chance. He'd need to be very cautious regardless; from what he could tell of her Quirk, it was capable of causing quite a bit of damage if he wasn't careful. Though, he wondered how much his cautiousness would help seeing as how she was quite possibly tracking him by sound at this very moment.

____

There wasn't much to be done about that however, so he would just have to stay focused on finding the bomb if he could. But if he took too long to find it, or to capture Jiro, then he wouldn't be able to stop the inevitable fight between Bakugo and Midoriya before the blond took his violence too far. He knew that Midoriya was powerful, but Bakugo was—for a lack of a different term—almost feral with rage when he had chased after the green-haired boy. As he walked and thought, the bespectacled teen felt his foot hit something solid. Before he could react, a bucket filled with ice cold paint poured all over him.

____

"GHHAAA!" Tenya yelled as he felt the cold liquid touch his bare skin after soaking through his armour, his visor becoming completely obscured. Throwing his arms out wildly, the hero-in-training wasn't entirely certain if he was trying to keep his balance or trying to fend off a possible attack. A snort made Tenya pause in his motions and try in vain to locate the source.

____

Having realised he couldn't remove the paint, Tenya was forced to remove his helmet to regain his sight and his bearings. Internally, the bespectacled teen cursed his lack of attention to his environment as he did so. He was ashamed that he had lost himself so far in thought during the exercise.

____

"Of course there was a trap!" he spat in anger, taking a moment to examine his ruined armour. It was covered in a brilliant red colour, splashed with a few splotches of yellow, which thankfully, didn't seem to be permanent. It just looked absolutely ridiculous. Even worse....

____

"And here I thought you were too smart to trigger the trap," Kyoka said, lazily twirling a finger around one of her jacks, "It didn't hurt you, did it? Aside from bruising your ego that is."

____

The words were said as a causal taunt, but not once did Jiro lose track of any move he made, even with how relaxed she seemed. The bespectacled teen felt like it was more of an attempt to distract him than anything else. Something he had been warned about. If there was ever a time to be truly grateful for his brother's guidance, now was one of them.

____

"It may have taken me by surprise," Tenya admitted, making a rough circuit around the room under Jiro's surprisingly watchful gaze, "But it will not impact my combat abilities."

____

Completing his route, Tenya took notice of all of the boxes that had been scattered around. They made it so that regardless of where he tried to position himself, he couldn't find a path to maximise his acceleration, except for one.

____

"You probably should have followed your partner." Kyoka said nonchalantly, "He might have already been captured without your help."

____

Taking the comment to be an attempt at lowering his morale, Tenya merely shook his head in response, ignoring the fact that he couldn't really find it in himself to deny the truth in her words. He couldn't let her know that, though.

____

"Not very likely," he said with a confidence he didn't feel, "Bakugo is a very combat oriented individual, and he's more intelligent than he looks. Midoriya might be powerful, but he won't be able to defeat him that easily. I think you should be more worried about yourself, Jiro."

____

Tenya reviewed the steps he had to take before he could achieve victory. First, he had to position himself in the best place possible to make a proper straight line, one with the least amount of boxes in the way. Then, he'd immediately strike with his ultimate move. It would be too quick for the rocker girl to react in time to stop him.

The bespectacled teen wasn't willing to lose his first hero exercise so easily.

____

Kyoka watched in silent fascination as everything, to the smallest detail, unfolded just as Izuku had predicted. From Iida triggering the booby-trap, to the way he kept his eyes on her the entire time he was positioning himself, to the exact seconds on the timer, it was all happening. As her opponent took his final steps into position, the rocker girl almost couldn't help grinning as she remembered Izuku's ingenious plan.

____

_"Iida's a good guy, so it's obvious that he'll try to retrieve the weapon instead of fighting to avoid injuring you," Izuku said. "Which is exactly why we're going to give him a perfect path to achieving that goal. And once he uses that 'perfect' position to strike, he'll fall into the trap and it's game over."_

____

_She had voiced her concern that the bespectacled teen would notice the real trap they'd set, but Izuku had banished that worry rather easily._

____

_"No need to worry about that," he said, "He won't see the trap. Iida is, for lack of a better term, tunnel-visioned, so he'll only notice you and the bomb. Besides, I'll be very thorough. He won't know he's done for until it's too late."_

____

Izuku's prediction had been perfectly accurate. Tenya had completely forgotten about what exactly Izuku's Quirk could do, and best of all, he hadn't even tried to hide it! Even now, as the bespectacled teen took his last step into position, he never noticed the translucent frost covering the floor, glinting from the light coming through the windows....

____

"AGH?!"

____

It was all the noise Tenya could make as he felt his boots touch the floor, only to quickly realise he had no friction. His legs slipped from underneath him and his momentum sent him sliding across the floor into the boxes. But only now did he see that they weren't actually boxes, but rather large blocks of ice. The last thought that entered his mind before he was slammed into the ice blocks was how foolish of him it was to forget his classmate's Quirk.

____

Kyoka winced at the dull thunk when Iida collided with a block of ice, "Ouch. That's gotta hurt."

____

She noticed the bespectacled teen trying to get back to his feet but continuing to fall flat. "You should probably stop struggling, Cyberpunk." Kyoka suggested to the struggling teen with a slightly humorous edge as she slowly approached, counting downwards in her mind. From behind her back, the rocker girl prepared her roll of capture tape.

____

Tenya, too dazed to do anything more than just lie there, was quickly tied up after the frost covering the floor had melted at the end of Kyoka's countdown. The rocker girl smirked at that. _You really are something, aren't you, Green bean?_

____

**"Tenya Iida has been captured!"**

____

____

_The Monitoring Room_

____

____

All Might and the rest of 1-A observed through the camera feeds as everything they'd seen transpire for the last several minutes came to a finish. They had watched as Izuku and Kyoka had moved the blocks of ice into the darker corners of the room to hide them from sight. They had watched as Izuku had adeptly built a booby-trap from paint cans and then purposefully made a trail for Tenya to follow. Izuku had planned out the entire encounter, up to the amount of time it would take for his ice to melt.

____

"That was.... SO AWESOME!" Eijiro was the first to voice his opinion. Judging by the looks on his classmates' faces, it was just as widely thought as he believed it should be.

____

"I agree," Momo said, "It truly was brilliant to have everything laid out like that. Bakugo and Iida could never have seen through such a tactical approach."

____

____

_Fourth Floor_

____

____

Katsuki kicked down the door before him, nearly ripping it from its hinges, and stepped into the chamber with growl. He was going to make that damn nerd pay, for daring to call him by that nickname and for ruining his dream of being the only one from that shit school to make it to U.A. But first, he was going to get some answers out of him, even if he had to beat them out of him.

____

"You finally done running?" Katsuki shouted, raising his hands in preparation. He'd end this fucking match in seconds.

____

"Who said anything about running?" Izuku's questioning voice came from behind a pillar as he walked out, arms crossed with a cold smirk on his lips. His snow white hair framed his face and seemed to make his icy blue eyes even sharper.

____

"No, I've just been waiting for you to get here. And now that you are," Izuku uncrossed his arms and the temperature instantly dropped by more than a dozen degrees, "We can finally start our 'fated' battle. Explosion vs Frost. Let's see who wins."

____

Katsuki didn't waste any more words as he charged the greenette and let loose an explosion when he got close enough. Izuku didn't dodge the attack, instead choosing to block it with an ice wall. The blond jumped back before the smoke could envelop him, but when it cleared, his target was nowhere in sight.

____

Katsuki growled angrily, small explosions popping like firecrackers in his hands. "So you're hiding now? You fucking coward!"

____

"Don't be such a loud brute, _Kacchan_."

____

"Shut the fuck up with that name!"

____

Katsuki, seeing his search tactic was fruitless, attempted to calm himself down, listening carefully for even the slightest hint of a movement. Deep down, he knew that if the nerd wanted to stay quiet, then it would be difficult to find him even if he tried, but Katsuki _wasn't going to let him win_. For several few seconds, there was nothing, but then.... a crackling sound so faint most would miss it came from his left. It was all the warning he needed.

____

Katsuki dodged out of the way as six icicles impaled the floor where he formerly stood. But that attack revealed had Izuku's position and the blond leapt forward to make his second shot at a surprise attack.

____

"DIE!" he roared, firing off a large explosion. Waving the resulting smoke away hurriedly, it was revealed that he had hit only empty air.

____

"I know what you're thinking, Kacchan," Izuku said with an amused smile, his voice coming from just behind Bakugo, "You're going to make me pay because you think I'm stuck here with you, but that's not quite right...."

____

Out of sheer instinct, the blond rolled forward, a projectile flying by his head. The sound of something hitting concrete followed immediately afterwards. Katsuki realised if he hadn't reacted in time, that might have been his head.

____

".... Truth is, you're the one trapped in here with _me_." Izuku finished as he walked from behind another pillar, hands stuffed in his pocket and a playful glint in his eyes.

____

"Fucking bastard!" Katsuki roared as he launched a barrage of explosions at the white-haired teen. Still, when the smoke cleared, there was no one in sight. The blond gritted his teeth in frustration as he scanned the room once again.

____

A soft chuckle echoed throughout the hall, but there was no sign of humour in it.

____

"I can practically taste your fear," Izuku's disembodied voice called out mockingly, "And yet, you call me a coward?"

____

"Fucking DIE!" Katsuki screamed, shooting an even larger explosion at the pillar in front of him. He didn't know if the nerd was behind it, but it was only a matter of time before he turned all the supporting pillars to dust and there was nowhere left to hide.

____

Unfortunately for him, Izuku wasn't planning on hiding any longer as he leapt from his cover the moment before the explosion had started. He avoided the destruction of the pillar with almost contemptuous ease.

____

Katsuki caught his movement from the corner of his eye and turned to release another explosion as his opponent charged at him while the smoke from his last attack still billowed through the air. He barely had enough time to shoot another explosion before Izuku got into range. He didn't even have enough time to recharge his palm with enough sweat to do anything of note. The blond only had enough time to ignite a weak, poorly aimed explosion.

____

Izuku effortlessly dodged the sloppy attack, not that Katsuki didn't expect that. Izuku was nothing if not hard to hit. He knew that from experience.

____

"MOTHERFUCKER!" Katsuki swore, rotating his body to discharge an explosion toward the approaching teen's abdomen with both arms.

____

Unlike before, Izuku didn't avoid this blast. This time, the greenette simply brought up his left hand to block and pushed through the pain to throw a powerful uppercut into Katsuki's chin. The strike lifted the blond from his feet and sent him into a wall where he slumped to the floor, disoriented.

____

  


____

* * *

____

Unbeknownst to either combatant, every one of their classmates had winced upon witnessing that last exchange from the monitoring room. Most worried about Izuku's well being; the explosion had been at point blank range. That worry soon became horror as they watched the smoke fade to reveal the green-haired teen standing clutching his left arm, the sleeve completely destroyed, with a large chunk of his forearm turned to charred flesh.

____

All Might thought about calling off the exercise before remembering another thing about Izuku's Quirks. The entire class stared in stricken fascination as the blackened flesh quickly reverted to its original light colour. The only remaining evidence of damage being done was the boy's burnt sleeve.

____

  


____

* * *

____

"That hurt, Kacchan. But it's nothing compared to what you're feeling, I'd think." Izuku said as he moved his left arm stiffly while walking toward his downed opponent. An opponent still trying to shake off the buzzing in his skull. The green-haired teen was relieved that he could numb his nerves like that. He wasn't sure if his pain tolerance was high enough to take the hit, and he didn't wish to find out, even if he was prepared from the start. Each injury he took was another wasted effort on the blond's part.

____

_H̸̙̰̭̳͚̓͘͠͝ͅe̵͈͈̜̦̓̀͝ ̸̮̔͒͂͜͝w̵͕͙̜̮̭̑̋̇ä̴͎̙͍̪̒s̶̫̜̣͕̮͕̈́̊̑̅̔̚ ̶͚̈̆͝w̷̼͋͑e̷̺͉̙̪͝a̴̬̾͂͋͒̃̔k̴͔͑̌͗̏̿.̸̢̱͎̀̄_

____

"Fuck.... you!" Bakugo slurred, his head still ringing. He finally managed to struggle to his feet and Izuku would have been surprised at his tenacity if he didn't already expect it. The blond rolled and launched himself toward the lying nerd that thought he was above him, aiming to surprise him with his own left swing.

____

Izuku saw the attack from a mile away and quickly side-stepped the punch, caught the offending arm, and, using his own momentum to pull him downwards, delivered a brutal knee strike to Katsuki's face, breaking his nose and sending him crashing to the floor with a spray of blood.

____

Katsuki clutched his face in agony as his brain was entirely unable to properly focus. The worst injury, however, was his pride at the sight of the nerd standing above him without injury.

____

Watching with a—not quite authentic—cold detachment at the explosive blond staggering while trying to stand, Izuku wondered why he was dragging out the fight for this long. It wasn't something he'd normally do, but well, he was playing the villain, wasn't he? So why not embrace the role a little? There was no harm in doing that much. Izuku looked at Katsuki struggling to stand and felt sorry for him, but squashed the uncomfortable feeling in his chest before it could fester.

Izuku sighed deeply. The fight had gone on for long enough.

It was time he ended it.

_N̷̖̩͉̓͂o̸̦̣̱̼̜̱̐͊ ̵̛͍̩̤̗̺̀̍m̵̳̞͍̌̏̎ͅő̶͈̅̍̍ȓ̵͇͍̥̟͎̈́̃̚é̴̢̧̟̂̉͘?̷̦͆̓̑̇͛_

The two hits that the green-haired teen had thrown were done without any enhancements, so it was just his raw strength. They were normal for him, effortless even. But for Katsuki.... each hit was far stronger than he was prepared for, and he hated it.

"Do yourself a favour and surrender," Izuku advised his severely disoriented opponent, "You can't win. Not like this."

____

The green-haired teen knew exactly how to push Katsuki Bakugo's buttons. Even when he was completely unaware of it, Katsuki still knew. The mocking tone of his voice never ceased to piss the blond off. He hated being looked down on, and _fucking Deku_ never learned.

____

The explosive teen had waited long enough for his arm bracers to be fully charged, and he wasn't about to wait another second. He was going to defeat the damnable nerd who foolishly thought himself to be his superior and show him where he really stood.

____

"Go die!" Katsuki shouted, bringing his shaking hands together. He aimed straight in front of himself, fully resolved to end the match with the resulting blast.

____

Much to the blond's surprise, Izuku merely stood and waited for him to finish. Gritting his teeth as anger bubbled in him, Katsuki ignited his sweat.... only for nothing to happen.

Blinking in confusing, the Explosion user tried again, to the same result. "What the fuck?"

____

He looked up to see Izuku smiling apologetically, but his blue eyes remained cold and unforgiving, "I told you that you couldn't win," the greenette said with a frown, "I lowered the temperature in the room. You can't ignite your sweat because it's too cold for you to perspire."

____

It was only after that was revealed did Katsuki realise his arms weren't the only things shaking. His entire body was shivering from the biting cold.

____

"F-Fuck y-you, D-Deku." he managed to stutter out through clenched teeth as he glared into Izuku's eyes. And that's when the greenette felt it. An emotion he was almost unable to believe came from the blond.

____

_Fear._ Of him.

____

_A̸͗͜ņ̷͖͋͘d̴̰͔̄̕ ̷̱̦̈̂̄̌h̶̦̙̆͛̄ȩ̷̹̰̈́̔̓͠ ̶̣̤͎̒̀ẃ̸̖͊̌͜ą̴͓̠͇̃̕n̷̲͍̜͝ţ̴̱͕̲͆ě̵̲̠̲̏̈́̕d̷̥̚ ̴͎̦̙̾m̶̯͉̋o̴͚͇̽r̵̯͌̎͠e̷̡͎͐͆.̴̹͖̖̻͒_

____

  


____

* * *

____

Once again, unknown to the two battling teens, the remainder of 1-A was watching from the monitoring room, gasps and and impressed murmurs filling the air at the scene. The half-and-half teen narrowed his eyes at the sight of Izuku's intelligent use of his Quirk. From what he had seen, the green-haired teen's mastery over his powers were superior to even his. Though, the scope seemed to be lower.

____

He would have to keep an eye on him.

____

  


____

* * *

____

"Give up, Bakugo, _please_." Izuku muttered under his breath, his eyes pleading with the blond, though he couldn't see them.

____

Watching the explosive blond struggling and feeling his frustrated indignation wore on Izuku. He approached Katsuki and prepared to restrain him, only to realise his capture tape was missing.

____

"Shit." he cursed when he recalled that it was destroyed by the blond's last explosion. Without the capture tape, he would have to immobilise Katsuki. It wouldn't be very comfortable, but he didn't have much other choice.

____

"Sorry about this, Bakugo."

____

He truly was sorry, but not enough to let himself lose. Izuku stood in front of Katsuki and placed a hand on his shoulder, aiming to freeze him in place when he heard a low Ding! Before he could think too much about it, he was forced to dodge a swing from the shivering blond. He maintained his distance and watched Katsuki in confusion as he smirked shakily. He instantly went on alert once he felt the smugness radiating from his opponent.

____

He watched warily as the blond raised his arms and pulled on the pins of both his arm bracers, "Take this, fucking DEKU!"

____

**"Young Bakugo, do not fire those weapons!"**

____

Izuku's eyes widened when he realised what Katsuki was about to do. At that same moment, the sound of footsteps came from his far right, just at the room's entrance. Fear gripped his heart as he saw Kyoka's worried face appear at the doorway. 

____

"Hey, Green! You alright?! Everything just went quiet all of a sudden...."

____

Katsuki's own eyes widened in shock when he heard the rocker girl's shout and he tried to pull his arms back when he realised what was about to happen....

____

.... But it was too late.

____

No one was able to react as a truly gargantuan explosion rocked the entire building to its foundation.

____

The detonation was so massive in yield that not even Tenya, from his spot of the second floor, was unaffected. All the support pillars in the room were just about vaporised in an instant, immediately collapsing into scorched rubble and taking the ceiling and the rest of the floors with them.

____

Tenya, having luckily been thrown through a window during the disaster, took a moment to analyse his situation after everything stopped shaking. His ears were ringing so loudly he thought that he was going deaf. Ignoring everything else, the bespectacled teen tried in vain to peer through the mountain of debris and wreckage in front of him for any sign of his classmates. His throat closed up.

____

"Midoriya! Jiro! Bakugo!" Iida shouted in horror as he realised what had happened. He could do nothing but watch, due to the capture tape still restraining him, as everything had fallen before him. Terror gripped his heart as he continued searching the area with his eyes and his heart sank when he saw that there was nothing but rubble.

____

That was until he caught sight of a large dome of ice poking out from the rubble.

____

"IZU-KUN!" Himiko screamed in distress as she rushed towards the building, uncaring of the fact that her eyes had gone red. The blonde teen had been the first and fastest to dart out of the monitoring room as soon as everyone had realised that the explosive blond was going to launch an attack even after All Might told him not to. She was seconded by All Might, who had spent a precious few seconds calling for the three teens to answer their mics before running. The rest of the class had followed suit, each as worried for their classmates as the other.

____

The entire class went for the ice dome and Shoto briefly used his left side in order to melt it. The process took several seconds and everyone waited with baited breath as the contents were revealed. All Might wasted no more time before scooping out the students inside and placing them on the ground. Katsuki groaned and his eyelids fluttered blearily before falling shut. All Might removed the ruined bracers from his arms before moving on to Kyoka. She wasn't conscious either, but other than a few cuts and bruises, she was fine. 

____

Himiko's heartbeat skyrocketed when there was no sign of Izuku being inside of the dome. She thought no more before she began digging through the rubble, Ochako and Fumikage readily coming to her aid.

____

_Please, Izu-kun. Please be alive!_

____

  


____

* * *

____

Izuku was lying utterly motionless, debris of various shapes and sizes littering his body. His breathing was slow and his heartbeat even slower.

____

All the while, he dreamt of dark forests and an everlasting night with no moon.

____

_"We have much to talk about."_

____

_"Very soon."_

____

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is Izuku going to be okay? What's happening to him?
> 
> Those will be answered next chapter. It might take a bit longer than the others (perhaps including this), but I hope it'll be worth it.
> 
> See you next time.
> 
> ~ Sloth


	6. Your Hero is Here

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Izuku wakes up from a grievous injury and finds himself at odds with the Shie Hassaikai after rescuing a young girl while out trying to figure out his powers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Song: [Fleurie - Soldier (Official Audio)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32W3J7XaNH8)
> 
> Feel free to ignore the above.

When Izuku came to, his first thought was that he was blind. His second thought was that he was deaf. And his third was that he was dead.

Then his senses started working again and his fourth thought was that he was an idiot.

_What hit me?_

That was his first _coherent_ thought.

His movements felt restricted for some reason and a quick glance was all it took for him to see why. Bandages covered every square inch of his arms, his torso felt like it went through a meat grinder and his face didn't feel any better. They were probably bandaged, as well, not that he could tell, what with how sore he was all over. But shouldn't he be on morphine or something? Why would th–

_Oh._

It took a few moments more for him to remember why he wasn't on pain medication. It was something he found out a few years ago after getting into an accident by saving a lost child. He was hospitalised for several weeks and the doctors found out an interesting—detrimental, really—fact about him.

Painkillers didn't work on him. Nor did most medical drugs. Or any type of other drugs, for that matter.

The doctors ran numerous tests and yet remained just as perplexed at the results as before they had started. There was no logical reason they could find for it. His Quirk wasn't a mutation, so that was ruled out. As far as they could tell, his body's metabolism and natural healing process had been altered by an unknown variable—Vita, most likely. For the same reason, his body also just didn't accept painkillers. So, all he had to rely on was his own pain tolerance. Which meant healing _anything_ that necessitated painkillers was going to hurt like a bitch.

That was one reason why he learned to numb his nerves and senses (and also why his pain tolerance was so ridiculously high).

Izuku couldn't have wished to be dead any harder than in this moment. Fortunately (?), he was more worried about his other classmates inside of the building. He had tried to shield Katsuki and Kyoka from the debris before everything fell, but since he lost consciousness soon after, he didn't know if he had managed to completely shield them both. Some people might say he should have been worried more about himself. He would deny that, of course (why worry about himself?). What happened to him was irrelevant as long as the others were safe.

He chuckled lowly and winced. Apparently, there was a hole in his stomach.... and most of his internal organs. He also noticed that he couldn't feel his legs. How the hell is he just realising that? Was he really that out of it?

The throbbing pain in his skull was all the answer he needed. Izuku took a deep breath.... and immediately regretted it. _Ow. Okay, there's definitely a hole in my lungs. Probably multiple holes._ But that was good, in a way. Now he knew how serious his injuries were. That meant he could deal with them easier. His golden-amber eyes glowed faintly and he took some time to assess his injuries.

His lungs were punctured—thankfully not all the way through—and his liver had a metal fragment embedded in it. His intestines were shredded to hell and his kidneys were bloody wrecks. He wasn't entirely sure what was going on with his spleen or stomach, but it definitely wasn't pretty.

There were also multiple pieces of metal floating around in him. None of the fragments were rusted, but they had to be removed regardless.

His sciatic nerves were severed—which explained the numbness in his legs—and his aorta came far too close to getting the same treatment. Overall....

His entire body was a fucking mess.

In fact, the only part of him that he could tell wasn't affected was his brain. He considered himself very lucky for that. If he hadn't used Vita's powers at the last moment, he shuddered to think of what might have happened. Still....

 _How the hell am I still alive?_ He wondered to himself, but soon dismissed the thought. He wasn't one to look a gift horse in the mouth, after all.

_"False."_

Ignoring the voice, Izuku sighed and steeled himself. It was time to get started on fixing his body. And without pain relief too, since he couldn't do both at once. _Perfect_ , he thought in resignation.

This was going to be a very long day.

  


* * *

Shota Aizawa wouldn't say he hated his job, but it made him wonder why he chose to work at U.A. sometimes. He had been teaching for years and he'd never had to deal with a problem of this scale. Not until All Might was hired. The blond was a great hero, that much he could freely admit, but the man was also a reckless idiot. He had been aware of that from the start, but him placing two students who had a bad history against each other in such a match up easily took the cake.

When he had finished comparing what Aldera Junior High had to say about Bakugo and what he personally knew of him, he immediately recognised it for what it was. A cover up. The school wanted the blond boy to succeed so badly that they didn't dare tarnish his records.

It didn't help that Izuku was registered as Quirkless while he attended the school. He knew very well what that meant for him.

Discrimination.

It was illogical. But humans were illogical beings.

He should have realised it sooner. The reason why Bakugo was so hostile to Midoriya. The reason why Midoriya always seemed to fake his smiles, except when he was around Toga. Katsuki Bakugo was a bully. More specifically, _Izuku Midoriya's_ bully.

How he could have missed the signs, Shota didn't know, nor did he particularly care. The fact was that one of his students had seriously injured another. Which was why for the past hour, he had been in a meeting with Inko Midoriya, who he had called to speak with him alone after she had arrived.

The single mother had been nearly frantic after receiving notice that her son had been grievously injured during a training exercise. But when she arrived, she was like a completely different person. The gruff pro hero was surprised by the silent fury of Inko Midoriya. She hadn't raised her voice once, but her tone and the coldness in her eyes made her displeasure quite clear.

"I want to assure you that your son is, as of now, completely stable, though he still isn't conscious as far as I am aware." Shota repeated for the third time. As much as he didn't want to admit it, she unnerved him. "But I will admit that this is in no way because of our actions. For that I am deeply sorry."

That last bit earned the tired-looking man another cold look from the woman.

"I want to see my son." Inko had eventually said after an uncomfortably long moment of silence.

The slender woman was well aware of what her son's second Quirk actually did, and she shivered to think what the cost of healing such terrible wounds would be. She'd watched him struggle to heal from _stab wounds_. What she saw in the video wasn't entirely clear, but she could easily tell that it was far worse. She couldn't even begin to imagine his pain.

_She wished she could help him somehow. She didn't want to see him like that._

But she had to. She had to be there for him, having brought with her a bag packed with Izuku's own homemade nutritional supplements for just that reason. Food wasn't what he needed at the moment, regardless of how she felt about it. She'd wanted to bring them to him the moment she arrived, but she had suppressed her maternal instincts so she could fully understand the situation.

She was done waiting.

The green-haired woman's usually pleasant features were set into a neutral frown, betraying nothing of her inner thoughts.

Shota had shown her the recordings of the exercise so she could see what happened for herself. Whether or not it was a good idea had yet to be determined. It had garnered a slight look of surprise in Inko's eyes, but her expression remained impassive all the same.

Inko knew exactly how impulsive her son could be when he saw someone in danger. She disliked having to recall the many hospital visits she'd had to make. Watching such a thing happening before her eyes was not as surprising she would've wished. It may not have been the first time her son had been badly injured because of his self-sacrificing tendencies, but that didn't make it any easier for her.

"Welcome, Ms. Midoriya." Recovery Girl greeted as the adults finally neared her office.

Inko didn't visibly react to her presence.

"Recovery Girl, this is Inko Midoriya," Shota made the brief introductions quickly before anything could be ruined, "If you would, please explain to her the situation her son is in."

The underground hero retreated as quickly as a walking pace would allow, leaving behind a frowning Recovery Girl. Fortunately, the elderly heroine had quite a few years of experience dealing with situations such as this. The cold gaze of the green-haired mother barely fazed her. Barely.

"How badly was my son injured in the incident?" Inko questioned, wasting no time and getting straight to the point. The neutral face she wore still remained unbroken despite her cold tone.

Recovery Girl was slightly impressed and unnerved that she had been able to limit her questions to just one. Unnerved because of the way she asked it. Unfeeling, but commanding. Impressed because this was generally the part where the concerned parent or parents would lose control of their emotions. Although, she could have done without that one question being the most difficult one to answer. The old nurse gave a soft sigh before answering.

"To start off with, I'll ease your concerns; Midoriya is hooked into four IVs. His red blood cell count was alarmingly low. I'll have to permit him something other than that once he wakes up," the elderly heroine said, "And his injuries are, well.... I think it might be best if you take a seat for this."

Inko didn't bother to accept the offer, and if anything, the look in her eyes just grew colder at the mention of it, her arms folding over her chest as well. The elderly heroine sighed in defeat. She understood her choice, though she would have preferred otherwise.

"I assure you that your son is doing very well," Recovery Girl said, matching gazes with Inko. "It's likely that he'll be able to get discharged by tomorrow after he wakes up. And if nothing else occurs, he will be able to return to classes at the end of the week."

Inko's eyes softened the slightest bit, but her firm stance didn't, and her arms remained crossed. She knew there was more to it than was already said. If Izuku was still not awake, then that meant something wasn't right.

"What exactly happened to my son?" The green-haired woman asked the elderly heroine again. The footage from the damaged test cameras wasn't very helpful at all. She needed more than just a simple video. She had to know what happened to him. She needed to know what exactly he went through.

"How much did he have to fix?" Inko questioned coldly.

Knowing her son had been seriously injured was bad enough—it not being the first time did nothing to make it any easier—but not knowing the extent was almost worse for the Midoriya matriarch. She also needed to know just how much her son had gone through to fix himself.

The professional mask Recovery Girl was wearing cracked ever so slightly. She wasn't looking forward to relating such injuries in the slightest. Inko's eyes narrowed at the long silence.

"How badly was he hurt?"

There was no way of avoiding it. She just had to bear through it.

"Your son suffered a punctured stomach and his intestines were mostly destroyed as well." Recovery Girl reported, already searching for the look of horror to appear in the green-haired woman's eyes at the information. She found nothing.

Her detachment was disconcerting, but Recovery Girl didn't dare voice her thoughts.

"Both of his arms were shattered into twelve segments and his legs were broken in seven places. Three of his lower vertebrae received major fracturing and completely severed both of his sciatic nerves."

Inko listened as each injury the elderly heroine listed seemed worse than the one before. The slender woman was quite knowledgeable when it came to injuries, especially since her son got injured as much as he did. But Izuku had never been hurt this badly before. It was just....

She was pulled back to reality as her thoughts were interrupted by Recovery Girl.

"Along with those injuries, his lungs were punctured a total of four times each, and there was shrapnel embedded in his liver. His kidneys were both ruptured and his spleen was crushed entirely." Recovery Girl continued, regardless of her own unease, and the fact that her audience's eyes had gone just the slightest bit wider with disbelief. Not that she noticed the change.

"There were also multiple metal fragments detected within his abdomen. Thankfully, none of them were rusted."

"His aorta was nearly severed as well, causing massive blood loss and the beginning stages of septic shock." Recovery Girl sighed, the list of injuries wearing on even her, experienced though she was.

"As much as it shames me to admit it, Ms. Midoriya, I...." the elderly heroine hesitated momentarily, ".... I'm not quite sure how your son even _survived_."

Inko closed her eyes and took a deep breath as she processed the information she was just given. What had just been described to her was not the result of a mere accident. There was more to it than that, much more. Of that, she was certain. But regardless of that, this was still.... she couldn't even find any words to describe it, except perhaps horrific. And even that seemed to be downplaying the sheer scope of what happened.

The Midoriya matriarch's eyes slid to the door the two had been standing in front of for the last few minutes. She dreaded what state she would found her precious son in when she went inside. But even with the turbulent emotions she felt, her face betrayed nothing.

"This information was recorded four hours ago," Recovery Girl broke Inko from her thoughts and drew her attention, "But, as of fifteen minutes ago, your son now has only several minor hairline fractures along the bones in his arms and no signs of internal haemorrhaging."

Inko froze briefly and turned her gaze to the elderly heroine in shock at hearing how far Izuku's healing had progressed. The incident hadn't occurred long enough ago for that to happen. It was far faster than what he had shown her before. Far too fast....

"His heart, however, is another matter entirely," Recovery Girl was quick to continue, never being the type to sugarcoat, "It's the only injury that wasn't caused directly by the damage he sustained during the incident. The injury to his heart was likely caused by the strain of keeping his body alive, as well as the pain he must have gone through to heal himself with no painkillers involved. It's unclear when he'll recover, but considering the effectiveness of Midoriya's secondary Quirk, it's very likely it will be soon."

Inko frowned at the news. If her son's Quirk hadn't fully regenerated all his wounds yet, even with its newfound boost, that could only mean one thing. And she didn't like that implication at all.

"That's faster than usual, but it isn't complete...." The Midoriya matriarch murmured as her eyes darted to the door again, ".... He doesn't have enough energy left to heal himself any further, and he isn't awake to replenish his energy any faster. He's too exhausted."

"Is that so?" the elderly heroine murmured thoughtful, "That does explain a lot."

"I'm going to let you in now, but please do take care not to disturb him," Recover Girl said to the green-haired mother, "We have no idea when his heart will recover or when he will regain consciousness, so we can't take any chances."

The green-haired woman nodded solemnly. There was nothing she would ever do to harm her son.

Recovery Girl opened the door and allowed Inko to enter before closing it silently. The elderly heroine stood by the door and watched as the younger woman sat next to the bed on which Izuku lied motionless. Looking at his peacefully sleeping face now, neither woman could have imagined that just an hour ago, that same face was forced to bear through unimaginable pain. Inko held Izuku's left hand in both of hers and brought it up to her face, closing her eyes as she did so.

She couldn't stand to see her baby like this. He was the only light left in her life and she couldn't lose him. She just couldn't.

A soft groan brought her from her thoughts and Inko felt the hand in her grip twitch slightly. She immediately opened her eyes and looked down at her son blearily blinking his eyes as he slowly pulled himself from his slumber. His lips parted and his voice came out in a broken whisper.

"M-Mom?"

Inko gave him a watery smile through her tears, "I'm here, Zuku. I'm here."

As if on some kind of cue, a rapid series of knocks sounded from the door, catching the attention of the room's three occupants. Recovery Girl glanced at the door quizzically and opened it, intent on finding out who was disturbing her patient. Before she could say a word, a yellow blur flew past her.

"Izu-kun!"

Himiko shouted as she launched herself at the bed with tears in her crimson eyes. She didn't seem to care that her fangs were on full display. There wasn't much of an audience, anyway, and none of that was important to her.

Izuku had just pulled himself into a seated position when a pair of arms wrapped around him. His own arm instinctively wrapped around her as well when he felt a wetness on his shirt. The green-haired teen looked down on the blonde crying into his chest and smiled weakly.

"Sorry I worried you, Himi...."

  


* * *

Izuku's thoughts were conflicted.

On one hand, he was glad that he was finally going to be released. But on the other, he couldn't stop thinking about what he had found out was going to happen to Katsuki. The entire incident was recorded, and no matter how anyone looked at it, the blond was in the wrong. He was told not to use his weapons and he had disobeyed. He was facing an expulsion at the very least, and Izuku wasn't sure how to feel. Especially since he was at fault, too.

He didn't want Katsuki to be removed from the hero course, but he also knew that the damage the blond had caused wasn't something that could be easily brushed off. He had spent hours fixing a̶n̶d̶ ̶a̶u̶g̶m̶e̶n̶t̶i̶n̶g̶ himself. If he chose to take legal action, then there was absolutely no chance that Katsuki would ever become a hero. He didn't particularly like the explosive teen, but he _w̸̫̍a̵̖͒ǹ̶̢̟t̴͈̒͛e̸͈͗d̷̜͍ ̷̣̿ĥ̴͎̙͝e̶̖͐̚ ̶̠͎̑̑w̴̞͒̌͜a̶͓͑n̴̺̆͌t̶͕̅͝e̵̳̔̎d̶̳͑ ̶̖̃ḣ̷͙e̵͚̔ ̵̢͂͌ŵ̴̟͚a̵͚̚͝ͅn̶͙̹͗͐t̶͙̉͒ḙ̸̽͜͠ḓ̷̎ͅ.̵̣̝͂́.̶̱̊̈́.̸̡͉̽͋.̴̝͠ ̷͎̝̈͋w̷̰͐ ̶͉̿h̸̥̐ͅ ̴̹̲͗a̴̘̚t̸̤̗͒ ̴̢̈̀?̸͎̌_ didn't want him to lose his dream. He also knew that a lot of villains would want to get their hands on a Quirk like Katsuki's. And there was nothing stopping them if he couldn't become a hero.

When Izuku and his mother met up with Nezu, Katsuki and Mitsuki Bakugo, he could honestly say that it was one of the most intense moments in his life. His mother had coldly ignored her old friend in favour of the tiny mammalian principal. In the following discussion, he had seen his mother's cold fury firsthand when she mercilessly tore into Mitsuki. Even the normally irritable blond teen seated beside her was completely cowed by the anger of the Midoriya matriarch.

And when Inko had delivered the intent to sue, the older blonde finally broke down. She begged and pleaded with her friend to reconsider, but the green-haired woman stood firm, unsympathetically telling the blonde woman that it wasn't going to happen. Inko had said nothing more to her after that.

Her son had almost died and someone was going to pay for that. Even if it was the son of her best friend.

Izuku finally had enough.

"No."

His voice, barely higher than a whisper, had managed to silence the distraught mother.

"I don't want you to do that, mom." Izuku's voice came out louder this time—more forceful—and he lifted his head, his eyes still a dulled golden-amber.

"Zuku–"

"No, mom." he said firmly but softly, turning his dull gaze to the Bakugos.

"I do think he should be punished. He almost killed himself and Kyoka," Izuku didn't seem to realise himself that he had used Jiro's first name, "But I don't think he should be expelled. Give him another chance."

Nezu raised an eyebrow at the boy's words. The principal chose not to comment on the fact that he didn't list himself when talking about what could have happened. That would be dealt with at a later date. "Oh? And what would you suggest, Midoriya? We can't have a student who would so recklessly endanger the lives of his own classmates, now can we?"

Izuku turned to face Nezu, "I know that," he murmured quietly, "But.... maybe there could be an alternate punishment. Something other than expulsion."

The small creature folded his hands beneath his chin and hummed thoughtfully, "Your idea certainly could hold some merit...." he began slowly, "But, even if I agreed, there still lies the issue of what the punishment for such an incident would be, don't you agree?"

Izuku matched his gaze, "I do, and I have an idea to help with that."

"Very well, then I'd like to hear it," Nezu said before addressing Mitsuki, "Mrs. Bakugo, would you and your son be so kind as to wait outside my office for a moment? Mr. Midoriya and I have something to discuss. Once we're finished, I'll let you know what I've decided for your son's punishment."

The blonde woman hesitated slightly but eventually relented, realising that there was nothing she could do in this situation. All she could do was hope.

As the two blonds left, Nezu turned his attention back to Izuku, "Now, young Midoriya, go ahead and share this idea that you have."

Listening to the green-haired teen's words, Nezu immediately realised where he was going with the idea. It was a punishment that would all but ensure there would be no more incidents like this one, and as a bonus, they would not have to expel a promising student so early into the school year.

When Izuku left Nezu's office, he felt relieved that the principal had accepted after he explained his own part in the incident and his desire to take part of the blame. If he hadn't, then there would be nothing more that could be done.

The green-haired teen paused after exiting the room and turned to his mother before darting his eyes over to the sulking figure of the youngest Bakugo. Mitsuki had already gone back to talk to Nezu about her son's punishment, so he was by himself in the hallway. Inko initially refused to leave them alone, but Izuku's pleading gaze eventually won her over.

Once the greenette watched his mother disappear around a corner, he turned to face Katsuki, "Hey, Kacchan," he said softly, "I can't tell you what's going to happen to you after today. What y– _we_ did was reckless and dangerous.... but I just want you to know something."

Izuku took a deep breath before continuing, "I don't want you to be expelled, and I don't want to see your dreams shattered. What I'm trying to say is.... I just want you to know that even after everything that's happened between us.... I ca– _don't_ hate you. I-I just needed you to hear me say it."

Katsuki stared at Izuku's retreating back and clenched his teeth in frustration. Fucking De– _Izuku_ , always pitying him. He chuckled mirthless as hot tears dripped down his cheeks and he furiously wiped at his face.

_Fuck._

  


* * *

Having finished his homework from his missed day at school, Izuku sat in his bedroom, tuning his guitar. It was the only thing he had that was related to his father in any way. He didn't care much about it at first, but he eventually learned to play it.

And it felt good.

So he kept playing and getting better.

Izuku finished adjusting the instrument, slinging the strap over his shoulder. His fingers ghosted over the strings, barely touching one before moving on to the next. He stopped and with a deep sigh, he begun to play. He wasn't the best singer, but he could deal.

The cords played in his mind in a familiar beat. He smiled faintly.

And he sang. His voice wasn't particularly loud, but it was able to be heard throughout the house. He felt the flutter of emotions behind his door, and he knew his mother was watching, as she always did when he played.

Izuku sighed as he set his guitar aside and slumped into his desk chair. Music always helped to calm him down, especially ones from his favourite playlist. This time was different.

There was something he needed to find out before he could even hope to get any sleep. He had to do something to figure himself out.

Izuku went to his mother's room to let her know that he was heading out, but hesitated when he heard her light snores. He debated waking her up for a long while, eventually electing to just let her rest.

He grabbed his dark green hoodie and put on his headphones before slipping out of the building.

Once Izuku exited his family's apartment, he made straight for Dagobah Municipal Beach. It wasn't a very long walk, but it gave him some time to reflect.

There was still a lot he didn't know or understand or know about his powers and that was never a good thing. Knowledge was power. And him not having enough knowledge on his own powers was part of a recipe for disaster. That they were individually so powerful was another cause for concern, though he wasn't very worried. That was pretty telling of his mental state, huh? He chuckled humorlessly at his own expense.

At the moment, there were only four things he knew for sure about his powers:

1\. He couldn't use them at the same time.

That was probably for the best, all things considered.

2\. They reacted strangely with One for All, one more so than the other.

That was why his injuries were always worse whenever he utilised Frost and One for All simultaneously.

3\. They were incredibly strong.

That was a given with how destructive Frost could be, and the sheer potential something like Vita's powers had.

4\. The voices w̶e̶r̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶i̶r̶ ̶t̶h̶o̶u̶g̶h̶t̶s̶ most likely had something to do with them.

He couldn't understand most of what they spoke about. T̶h̶e̶y̶ ̶d̶i̶d̶n̶'̶t̶ ̶w̶a̶n̶t̶ ̶h̶i̶m̶ ̶t̶o̶.̶ But one in particular was always audible. He just became so used to it that it didn't seem out of the ordinary. There was nothing he could really do about it until he had more information anyway.

_"Negative. No Information: I̵̘̚t̵͕̄'̸͓͛s̵̟͋ ̴͕̊ň̵̝o̶͙̾t̷̟̃ ̵͎̕ỹ̵̧e̸̪̾ẗ̴̢́ ̸̀͜t̴̪̆ī̵͙m̷̪͊e̸̝͊.̵͙͛"_

Izuku stopped his jog in surprise, "What the hell?"

That was new. It sounded like words, but he couldn't make any sense of them. That was another question he needed answered. _They just keep piling up, don't they?_ He thought with a tired sigh.

Finally arriving at the beach, Izuku took a moment to appreciate the sight. The fresh air, the coolness of the night—not that he could feel it—and the unimpeded view, free of the garbage that used to litter the sand.

He spread his legs shoulder-width apart and took a deep breath, willing the power of One for All to flow through him. Green sparks crackled around him and he slowly increased the output to his maximum. At 25%, he could feel his bones creaking in strain, but surprisingly, it wasn't as bad as it used to be. He gritted his teeth and allowed Frost's power to flow as well, and he immediately felt the difference.

He hurriedly closed off his connection to his Quirk and breathed a sigh of relief as the pressure on his body disappeared. He was trying to understand why 'Frostbite' and One for All were so hard to use at once, but it was slow going.

With another sigh, Izuku focused his powers into his left arm, watching in fascination as it apparently crystallised, "Whoa...." he breathed in awe as he turned his arm over. It was completely translucent. He clenched his fist and was surprised to see that it moved just like normal. On a whim, he decided to dip his hand in the ocean.

The moment his fingers were touched to the water's surface, it froze. He looked out at the ocean in wide-eyed amazement. This.... this was....

The ocean was frozen.

Izuku almost forgot to breathe with how shocked he was. _H-How did.... w-what?_

It took a moment for him to realise that the ocean wasn't entirely frozen. It was just covered in a thin sheet of ice as far as his eyes could see. But.... even that was beyond what he thought Frost was capable of. He pulled his hand from the water and the ice dissipated soon after. Izuku gazed at his crystalline arm as it shifted back to normal and he felt a wave of exhaustion crash into him.

_Guess there's still a lot I have to learn._

Izuku fell backwards into the sand and closed his eyes, taking a deep breath of the cool night air. That was one down. One more to go.

Sitting up straight, Izuku removed his hoodie and undershirt, leaving his upper body fully bare. The cold breeze nipped at his scarred naked skin and he vaguely realised that he actually noticed the coolness of the air, however little of it he could feel. That much was telling of how cold it was. Fortunately, heat and cold didn't affect him very much. Though, that had its own set of disadvantages. He couldn't accurately tell whether something was hot or cold, and he wasn't outright _immune_ to being burnt or even getting frostbite—not without Frost, at least—so he had to be careful.

Taking a deep breath and releasing it slowly, Izuku let his eyes change to golden-amber and put on his headphones. He immediately set about activating the enhancements that laid dormant in his body. First came his senses, which he was really glad was able to be shut off. The last time he tried getting used to the sensations, he nearly had an aneurysm, though that was probably an exaggeration. He still had them enhanced to some extent, but they were much more bearable when not at full power.

Next came the ones he was going to remove.

X-ray vision was one that definitely had to go. It had caused him enough embarrassment to last a lifetime. Not to mention, he still didn't know why he chose to give himself that ability in the first place. It didn't make any sense.

Next up was his enhanced durability. He had no reason to get rid of it other than the fact that he wanted to build up his own toughness without it.

He let the power flow away and sighed, content with a job well done. He gazed up at the stars and listed all the constellations he could find. Stargazing used to be a beloved hobby of his. But then his powers came in.... and he never looked at the stars again. With a sigh, he pushed himself from the sand and picked up his shirt and hoodie, walking away and leaving the beach behind.

Izuku was caught up in his thoughts as he walked. He still had no explanation for his powers and he wasn't getting closer. Was he going to keep getting more powers? Or was he only going to have the ones he had now? What did the voices in his head have to do with them? At this point, he–

**_Fear._ **

It hit him with such force that he nearly didn't notice a small shape run into him. He stumbled slightly, but remained standing, eyes wide at the sight of the child who ran into him falling back with a gasp.

_Was it.... her?_

"Sorry about that," He said pulling off his headphones and kneeling to check if she was okay, "I didn't hurt you, did I?"

The little girl stared up at him with wide, fearful red eyes, her face covered in sweat as she panted for breath. She couldn't have been older than six or seven, with long, choppy bluish-white hair and a small brown horn on the right side of her forehead. She was wearing a pale short-sleeve dress with no shoes, but what really caught Izuku's attention were the bandages wrapped around her arms and legs.

She initially shied away from him, but stopped when he placed his hand gently on her shoulder. Her eyes were wide with uncertainty as she opened her mouth to answer him.

"Eri, there you are! You shouldn't run off like that."

Izuku looked up from his kneeling position at the sound of the voice. From the moment he heard him, there was a feeling of anger that came over him radiating from the man. So he wasn't very surprised when he found himself looking at a tall, muscular man in a black suit, wearing a brown, beak-shaped mask over his face. He couldn't see the man's face, so the only way he was able to tell the individual was male was by his voice and body-shape.

The man stopped in front of him and Izuku saw his hand clench, as though he was trying to hide his irritation. His analysis was confirmed once he felt the man's annoyance, "Who are you? Actually, it doesn't matter. I'm sorry about my daughter. Let's go, Eri!"

"No worries, it was my fault for not paying attention." Izuku said, helping her stand up. _Come on. Give me something I can use. Anything at all._

Eri muttered something under her breath that he couldn't quite understand, even with his enhanced hearing, "Say again?"

One of her tiny hands clenched the fabric of his hoodie and Izuku was suddenly aware of how much she was shaking. Her voice was soft and hoarse and he could hear the tremor in every word she said.

"He's not my daddy."

The raw terror in her voice sent a shock up his spine, but Izuku had gotten what he needed. He schooled his features into an unreadable expression and rose to his feet, smiling politely at the w̶o̶r̶t̶h̶l̶e̶s̶s̶ ̶b̶u̶g̶ man in front of him. But first things first, he needed more information.

"Ah, sorry, were you playing hide and seek or something?" Izuku asked the i̶n̶s̶e̶c̶t̶ man, keeping his voice perfectly calm and looking over the man's shoulder. "Is anyone else playing with you?"

As Izuku expected, the man followed his gaze, "No, nothing like that. It's just us, but she ran a bit far away from where we're staying."

"Oh, I see." Izuku slowly helped Eri onto her feet, letting her remain close to him. She was attached to his torso on his left and Izuku had no intention of letting her go back with the man.

"Hey, I have a question to ask you." Izuku said suddenly, meeting the man's eyes.

"I don't have time for this." Izuku could hear more than he felt the edge in his voice this time. The man was getting impatient. Well, so was he.

"My boss doesn't like being kept waiting. Eri, get over here, now."

The girl stilled for a moment and then let Izuku go, turning around to go back to the v̶i̶l̶e̶ ̶w̶o̶r̶m̶ man. But he pulled her back, keeping his arm wrapped protectively around her. Eri gasped and looked up at Izuku with terrified eyes.

And it made him angry.

He smiled faintly at her, his hair already falling over his eyes and losing its colour. He turned his icy blue eyes to stare at the villain, "It doesn't matter if you want to hear it or not. My question is...."

"Can you breathe in that?"

The masked man looked confused and irritated by the question before his eyes widened and his hands grasped at his mask, forcibly tugging it off before it could completely freeze to his face. He gulped down deep breaths of air and glared at Izuku with a face that looked downright murderous. Unfortunately for him, the few seconds he had spent taking his mask off were all the green-haired teen needed, and before the man could react, a crystalline hand was placed on his chest and his body went cold.

And then he felt nothing.

Izuku stared at the frozen statue of the man before turning his attention back to the small girl in his arms as he let his powers fade. "Are you okay?" he asked gently.

Eri nodded her head and buried her face in his hoodie. Izuku sighed softly and pulled out his cellphone before dialling a number. The phone rang twice before a voice answered.

"Ah, young Midoriya! Can I help you with something?"

"Yeah, All Might? I, uh, I need some help."

The hero's voice immediately turned serious when he heard Izuku's severe tone.

"Where are you now?"

  


* * *

All Might had arrived soon after the call, having called a friend of his from the police who had them transferred to the hospital in less than an hour while another police escort took the frostbitten villain to a prison. Once he got to the hospital, Izuku made it through the doctor's examinations in record time. He hadn't been hurt in the fight—if it could even be called that—so he was deemed fine after just a few minutes.

Eri, however, was an entirely different matter.

She refused to let go of Izuku and as soon as one of the doctors picked up a needle, she started sobbing until they put it away. The poor girl was utterly traumatised and it took the better part of an hour for Izuku to reassure her and allow the doctors to get the basic things like her weight, height and blood pressure.

When Izuku finally managed to convince her to let him remove her bandages, he sucked in a breath. Numerous scars adorned her arms up to her elbows. He also noticed that they looked suspiciously like insertion points from a needle. Either someone had been injecting something into her or taking something out for quite some time.

It made him angry.

He didn't need the doctors to tell him that being exposed to an environment such as the hospital would only stress her further and have unintended consequences on her health. He recognised the look in her eyes. He could feel the fear she felt, and he hated it.

"Eri," Izuku whispered soothingly as he held her, "I'm going to help you, okay?"

She didn't seem to understand what he meant so he gently lifted her hands. His eyes shifted to amber and he held her arms in his hands.

Eri looked at her arms in awe as the scars disappeared before her very eyes, leaving behind a slight tingling sensation. She turned her arms over curiously and Izuku could see a ghost of a smile on her lips. It wasn't a full smile, but that would be fixed eventually. For now, this was enough.

The doctors did a quick check for any complications before declaring her healthy and letting them leave.

Izuku walked Eri to the hospital lobby, where All Might was waiting along with his mother and a doctor. The green-haired woman had been extremely worried and fussed over him until he had managed to calm her down. It took a few tear-filled moments for his mom to finally notice the little girl attached to his side.

"Who is this?" Inko inquired curiously.

"Oh, uh, right. Mom, this is Eri," Izuku answered, offering the girl a lopsided smile, "Eri, this is my mom, Inko."

"H-Hello," the girl squeaked out, still remaining attached to Izuku's side.

Inko smiled softly at the child, "Hello, Eri. It's nice to meet you."

All Might ended his conversation with the doctor concerning Eri's examination and walked over to them as the man turned and left to tend to his other patients. The blond hero looked from Eri to Izuku, "She's been given the all clear to leave. They don't think it's a good idea to keep her here, seeing how she reacted at first. Fortunately, she was already mostly fixed up by your Quirk so it should be fine."

".... What is it?" Izuku asked when he felt the slight turmoil All Might was in.

"We don't know who her parents are," All Might admitted with a sigh, "The police don't have any records of her. It is possible that they just haven't found anything yet, but until then we'll just have to–"

"We'll take her."

All Might stopped himself and blinked in surprise, "What was that, young Midoriya?"

Izuku looked at him as he held Eri just a bit closer, his voice firm and steady, "She can stay with us."

He looked back at his mother to gauge her reaction and she smiled at him reassuringly. It felt like a weight that he didn't even know he was holding was just lifted from his shoulders and he gave her a smile in return.

"I don't mind," Inko replied with a smile, "Of course she can stay with us."

"Ahem, well," All Might cleared his throat and said, "I was just about to suggest that, but it seems you've beaten me to the punch. Just make sure to bring her to U.A when you get back and we can figure out where to go from there. It's very likely that the police will find a foster home to take custody of her until her parents can be located."

"Alrighty then," Izuku said as he knelt down so he was eye-level with Eri, smiling brightly, "How about that, Eri? Would you like to stay with us?"

Eri looked into his shimmering amber eyes and her decision was already made. She wanted to stay with this boy. She hadn't ever felt this safe with anyone in her whole life. His hands were so gentle and kind and he had healed her. The scars she always had were gone and she liked it. The feeling was so strange and unfamiliar to her, but all she knew was that she didn't want it to go away. Her lips twitched as she attempted a smile and she dipped her head in a nod.

"Okay."

  


* * *

Inko had made Katsudon for dinner, which Izuku barely managed to keep himself from drooling over as he gathered it from the fridge and moved to set them into several plates so it could be reheated in the microwave. As it warmed, the delicious scent of the meal started to fill the room and Izuku struggled even more to keep himself from starting to drool. He was helped along by the realisation that Eri herself was staring at the microwave while she drooled from the smell.

As soon as he heard the ding signifying that it was done, he divided their dinner into four plates (three were for himself) and got Eri her own chair beside his at the table. The girl gaped in surprise at the delicious food laid before her, but she hesitated. She wasn't sure if it was okay for her to have this. Izuku felt it before she looked at him, and he felt anger course through his veins again.

_H̷a̵t̸e̷._

Izuku smiled at her as he took his chopsticks and picked up one of the pork cutlets on his plate and bit into it. He could feel her gaze on him as he was chewing and he swallowed before looking back at her, "It's okay, you can eat. Just remember to cool it down first."

Eri tried using the chopsticks as well, but it quickly became apparent that she was completely clueless as to what she was doing. Eri pouted and Izuku chuckled as he helped her out, showing her the right way to hold them and pick up her food. When she took her first bite of the delicious meal, her eyes widened and she nearly choked with how fast she was shovelling food into her mouth.

"Itsh ghood, ishnt it?" Izuku asked with his mouth filled with Katsudon.

"Mmhmm!" She affirmed, her mouth just as stuffed as his was.

They continued eating in relative silence until Inko came back to the kitchen, "Eri, the bath's ready. You ready to get cleaned up?"

Eri swallowed with a nervous look in her eyes. Izuku smiled reassuringly as he brought the empty plates to the sink. She looked back at Inko and answered softly, "Okay."

She tugged on Izuku's sleeve as she left her chair and he felt the slight fear she was feeling. He cracked a small smile when he realised that she wanted him to come along. He didn't need to ask his mother since he already knew what her answer was going to be.

"Let's go then, yeah?"

The bath took quite a bit of time to finish since Eri was only partially in the tub. She had leaned half of her body outside of it so she could hang on to Izuku's hoodie. Izuku stayed calm throughout the entire experience. He wasn't particularly knowledgeable when it came to children, but he knew enough to help Inko bathe her. His mother got Eri cleaned up while Izuku poured some shampoo into the girl's hair and gently massaged her scalp, working the soapy liquid into her messy white locks.

When Eri was cleaned up, there was a clear difference in her appearance when compared to before. Inko dried her off with a towel and then got Eri changed into some fresh clothing while Izuku changed his own sand covered clothes (after assuring Eri that he'd be back in a moment). Due to Inko being used to buying hero-esque clothing for Izuku when he was Eri's age, the only clothes they had were All Might-themed pyjamas. When she was changed, Inko used a brush and carefully worked it through the girl's hair.

Having a child with hair as unruly as Izuku's—his hair seemed to defy physics—had prepared her for the worst. Eri's hair wasn't as much of a challenge to tame as Izuku's was.

Said greenette then walked out of the bathroom dressed in red shorts and a white t-shirt (which had the kanji for shirt) just as Inko finished with the final touch-ups to Eri's hair. She smiled proudly as she looked at the image of Eri looking fed, cleaned, and tired in her new pyjamas.

"Zuku, there should be a spare toothbrush for Eri to use in the bathroom cabinet. Fetch it for her."

"Got it." he responded, letting Eri take his left hand again. She yawned and he felt the exhaustion starting to weigh him down as well.

The moment they left the bathroom a second (or third in Izuku's case) time, Eri held her arms up towards Izuku. He didn't waste a moment before picking her up and bundling her securely in his arms. Eri wrapped her tiny arms around his neck and clutched at his shirt, her eyes drooping rapidly.

Izuku paused when he reached his room as he heard Eri whimpering in fright (and felt her fear). It took him a moment to realise what was wrong.

She was afraid of the dark.

 _Dammit_ , he cursed internally. Why couldn't he have been a normal child who was afraid of the dark? Maybe then he would have known what to do in this situation. But, as it were, he hadn't the faintest idea.

With nothing coming to mind, Izuku gently rocked Eri in his arms, "Shh, it's alright. You're safe."

Surprisingly, she relaxed into his grip, her fear dissipating. Izuku got them both settled into his bed and situated Eri so she was lying right next to him, which ultimately proved to be useless as she just crawled over and buried herself into his chest. He sighed softly, but couldn't help the smile on his face as he wrapped his arms around her small body and curled himself around her as best he could.

"G'night, Eri."

She mumbled a mostly incoherent reply, but Izuku heard something that got him thinking.

"Pretty.... clouds...."

Izuku slowly and gently reached out to grab a hand-held mirror from his computer's desk and positioned it in front of his face. His face was the same as always and so were his eyes. But then, when he looked closer at his left eye, both of his eyes widened in shock at what he saw.

His left eye was white.

_"You're welcome, Izu~"_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Personality: Empath - 002**
> 
> **Eye Colour: Right: Emerald — Left: Variable**
> 
> **Power/s: Emotion Manipulation**
> 
> **Class: Alpha (?)**
> 
> **Resistance: None**
> 
> First chapter of 2021 is done. The yakuza is here and Izuku's gonna be in trouble. On the bright side, Eri's safe and sound with our protagonist. What's next? No one knows, except me.
> 
> See you next time.
> 
> ~ Sloth


	7. Some of Them Want to be Abused

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Izuku, worried about Himiko's odd behaviour, decides to follow her home one day and unearths a horrible secret; A dark power finally gets some much needed release and two u̶n̶deserving victims are claimed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Song: [Marilyn Manson - Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This) (Alt. Version)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUvVdTlA23w)
> 
> Chapter 7 is finally done after a.... very long time. I didn't mean for it to take this long, but well, what's done is done.
> 
> Read and enjoy.

Kai Chisaki absolutely abhorred being kept waiting, but he could be patient if necessary.

He had to play his cards smart in order to achieve his goal of curing the plague that was Quirks, and to restore the yakuza back to its former glory. But in order to do that, he required a certain asset. Ambition meant nothing without a means for his success. Someone had to answer for the loss of his most valuable asset.

The man that delivered the news of Eri's rescue was tall and skinny, barely more than skin and bones. His waif-like stature was even more pronounced due to the slight shaking of his legs. He fidgeted nervously under Kai's intense glare, hoping against hope that his boss's anger wouldn't be turned on him.

Kai ground his teeth together as he finished processing the new information. He trembled in barely restrained anger and clenched his fists, already moving to remove the glove on his right hand.

Someone was going to pay.

His fingers twitched and he felt the desire to _destroy_ something. _Anything._ His gaze swept across the room and landed on the skinny man standing before him.

"W-Wait, boss! No, p-please! NO–"

The man's pleas were permanently silenced as a pale hand shot out and grabbed his face faster than he could react. With scarcely a sound, his body all but disintegrated into a shower of gore.

His anger lowered for the moment, Kai paced around the room, gritting his teeth in frustration. All of his hard work and efforts was going down the drain.

His dream. His sacrifices. His entire operation....

None of them meant anything if he couldn't get her back.

With Eri gone, he had nothing.

He took deep steady breaths to calm himself down and briefly stopped pacing to whip out his phone. It rang for several seconds before it was received by the other side.

"Get me Shikaku."

  


* * *

Izuku awoke with a start.

He remained motionless for a moment as his brain caught up to the present. He felt a weight shift in his arms and he smiled softly, gently removing himself from the grip of the little girl clutching his shirt.

Eri looked so peaceful sleeping as soundly as she was. It baffled him to think that anyone would ever want to hurt such a pure and innocent face.

And it made him angry.

He took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down. Getting worked up would solve nothing, and would only stress Eri unnecessarily.

Izuku spared one last glance at the sleeping child before going about getting ready for school. He had missed almost half a week already and he didn't wish to lose any more time. Adjusting his tie for the fourth time, he sighed at just how badly it was done. At least he managed to make it look more like an actual tie than a choker. He still didn't quite know how he had done that.

His ears twitched when he heard shuffling in his bed and he turned around with a smile, "Mornin', Eri. Did you sleep well?"

The white-haired girl nodded shyly and Izuku's heart clenched at the adorable sight. His smile widened a little and he lifted her from the bed, setting her on her feet and ruffling her hair, "Let's get you ready now, yeah?"

Eri dipped her head in a nod, "Okay."

  


* * *

Izuku was late.

Not that it mattered very much at this point. His attendance record was already screwed and he had been at U.A. for less than a week. That was telling of just how bad this particular week was for him. But, at least there was one good thing that came from it all.

He didn't regret taking so long since he was helping Eri, but he had to be careful not to make it a habit. It wouldn't do for him to earn the ire of his teachers.

_Speaking of Eri._

Izuku glanced down at her and noticed the anxious look on her face. He couldn't blame her though. This wasn't the sight he expected to find when standing in front of U.A.'s gates on the last day of the week.

There was a large crowd of reporters swarming and chattering around the entrance. They were locked out, of course. He could hazard a guess as to why they were there and he was sure he'd get it correct. Their reasons could be summed up into two words.

All Might.

To say that the Symbol of Peace was a celebrity was putting it very lightly. There was no way the reporters would want to miss the chance to sink their claws into such a big story.

_Ṽ̴̠͖̬͘͜u̵̪͕̽̔͊l̶̨̻͈̽̊t̴̨̬̆̎͂û̵̡̩̾́̚ŗ̵̤̮̖̋͗̉͆ë̸̮͍͇́s̴̨͖̝̔͋̚.̷̥̙̑͐̈_

He wasn't walking through those with Eri.

Izuku scanned the rest of the area with all the precision of an eagle, until he found what he was looking for. It was something he noticed on the first day, but he hadn't thought much on it until now.

"Hold on, Eri." he whispered as he brought her into his arms. He tensed his leg muscles and called upon One for All, leaping into the air in a flash. He felt Eri clutch his shirt tighter and he quickly banished the flash of fear that ran through her.

Izuku landed on top of U.A.'s Support building and dropped off, crouching slightly to lessen the force of the impact.

"It's okay, we're here."

Eri shyly peeked up from his shirt and looked around. Izuku smiled down at her and ruffled her hair before letting her stand beside him, still holding on to his left hand. He was about to start walking when he felt something peculiar. Excitement mixed with dismay.... no, someone was excited and another person was dismayed and exasperated.

Izuku gently pulled Eri back just as the door to the left of them exploded.

"Hatsume! Not again!"

"Hehehe! Oops!"

A pink-haired girl wearing thick googles and a sleeveless coverall stepped out of the smoke covered in soot with a wide smile on her face. Izuku stared at her in confusion and alarm, and he could feel that he wasn't the only one. Eri tugged on his hand and hid further behind his leg.

The girl took off her googles, noticed them standing by the remains of the door and rushed over to him, "Ooh, who are you? I've never seen you around before. Are you part of the Hero course? Are you?"

Izuku flushed and took a step back as the girl invaded his personal space, "U-Um, my name's I-Izuku Midoriya," he stammered out, then added, "Oh! And, uh, yes, I-I'm from the Hero course."

"Izuku, huh? I'm Mei Hatsume! Call me Mei! Wanna try out some of my babies? I promise you won't regret it. What do you say?"

The green-haired teen flushed even harder at the intimacy of her entire statement, "U-Uh, h-huh, w-wha....?"

"HATSUME! Get back here!"

Mei leaned away slightly and Izuku noticed for the first time that her amber eyes looked like cross-hairs. The pink-haired girl looked into the room with the exploding door and pouted slightly, "Aw, too bad. Well, I gotta go. See you around, Izuku!"

Izuku watched in confusion as she dashed down the corridor, chased by another student just as soot-covered as she was. Izuku looked down at Eri still hiding behind his leg and they shared a bewildered look, "O-Okay then. Let's, uh, let's go, Eri."

  


* * *

Izuku was apprehensive.

He was late, no doubt about it. He had a reason, of course, but that didn't mean Mr. Aizawa would accept it. If anything, it might make things worse. He took a deep breath and squeezed Eri's hand reassuringly, feeling her nerves building. Or were they his?

Izuku slid open the oversized door and walked in.

"Sorry I'm late."

Everyone quieted down and looked towards the door, finding their resident hero nerd standing there as expected. But what they weren't expecting to see was a small child attached to his left hand peeking out from behind his leg. Eri stood next to him dressed in an All Might-themed hoodie over a light yellow dress with the kanji for 'Dress', short white socks, and a pair of red shoes. Her grip on his hand was as tight as always. 

Aizawa stared at Izuku, who smiled nervously, and the even more nervous-looking girl who was locked onto him looked back at the schedule for the day, "Get to your seat. Now, as for what I was about to say...."

"THAT'S IT?!" Most of the class exclaimed in disbelief.

"Hold on a minute," Denki said incredulously, "Are we just supposed to disregard the fact that Midoriya brought a kid to school after being gone for two days?"

"Yeah, why _is_ she here?" Tsuyu asked curiously with a finger to her chin.

Izuku scratched the back of his head nervously, feeling an especially intense gaze coming from the left corner of the room, "Uh, w-well, you see, um...."

"I am here to explain!"

Both Izuku and Eri yelped in fright—and Izuku could swear that he just had a mini heart attack—and jumped as All Might appeared behind them, waving at the rest of the class.

Aizawa looked ever so slightly more annoyed at the intrusion, "All Might, you shouldn't be so loud this early in the morning."

"Sorry, Aizawa!" The Symbol of Peace apologised with a short bow, "I'll make the explanation as brief as possible!"

The class waited for him to give them an explanation for the situation, "For, ahem, certain reasons, Eri will be staying with Izuku for a little while! Get along, okay!" He said with a thumbs up and his trademark grin.

No one was very satisfied with that answer.

"Seriously? Is that all you're gonna tell us?" Hanta asked in disbelief.

"I'm sorry, but there's not much else I can tell you at the moment," All Might apologised, "For now, I just need you to cooperate so that Eri feels comfortable, okay? Thanks!"

The Pro Hero then ran off—likely to go back to his office to deflate and conserve energy in peace—and left the class in an awkward silence. Izuku smiled just as awkwardly as he felt, "W-Well, uh, that's that, right? Oh, uh, this is Eri. Eri, these are my classmates. They're.... nice."

"Somehow, that sounded really fake." Rikido muttered under his breath.

Eri peeked out from behind Izuku and gave the class a shy and nearly-silent greeting, "H-Hi."

"Oh. My. Gosh! She's so adorable!" Mina squealed, jumping out of her seat, "Can I hug her, please?!"

Aizawa sighed audibly, "Get back in your seat, Ashido. Midoriya, go get a chair from the back for Eri. The rest of you, be quiet. Time is limited. You should be more rational."

"Now, as for what's next on the agenda...." Everybody tensed at his words, dreading whatever he might have in store for them. What ho–

".... Pick a Class President." Aizawa said, rather anticlimactically, the moment everyone had settled into their seats.

_That's so normal!_

Aizawa ignored the stares and continued, "It doesn't matter how you decide, just get it done before the period is up. We don't have much to discuss in homeroom anyway, so knock yourselves out."

Almost immediately, just about everyone in the class was up and clamouring for themselves to be president. Even Izuku was interested, but he wasn't about to offer himself up to be any sort of leader. He looked back at Eri and saw that she seemed to have warmed up to Himiko. The blonde glanced his way and smiled widely before turning back to the child sitting between them.

"That's enough!" Tenya suddenly interrupted, "The class Presidency is a sacred office that cannot be decided on a whim! Therefore, I propose we decide by taking a vote!"

".... He says with his hand raised just as high as the rest of us." Mina finished with a wide grin at the sight of the young man standing with his hand held high in the air.

Tsuyu held a finger to her chin, "Isn't it a bit too early for us to have developed any trust in each other? Everyone will probably just vote for themselves, ribbit."

"That is exactly why the person who earns multiple votes will be truly worthy of this task!" Tenya said, or shouted, "If they have the ability to earn the trust of our classmates this early into class relations, then they must possess the qualities worthy of being our Class President!"

Kyoka sighed and leaned back in her seat, "Sure, why not? Let's just vote and get it over with. Cyberpunk here isn't going to let up on us if we don't."

The votes were done anonymously so that no one would know who voted for who, and at the end of the next ten minutes, the votes were all added and written on the blackboard. The scores were as such:

Izuku Midoriya: 7 votes

Momo Yaoyorozu: 3 votes

Eijiro Kirishima: 1 vote

Mashirao Ojiro: 1 vote

Minoru Mineta: 1 vote

Koji Koda: 1 vote

Mezo Shoji: 1 vote

Denki Kaminari: 1 vote

Toru Hagakure: 1 vote

Hanta Sero: 1 vote

Fumikage Tokoyami: 1 vote

Rikido Sato: 1 vote

Yuga Aoyama: 1 vote

If Izuku was even _slightly_ more awkward, then he would have been terrified from the results. As it were, he was only extremely shocked and completely mystified.

"S-Seven votes?! How did this happen?" Izuku muttered to himself disbelievingly.

"Looks like you won, Midoriya! Good for you!" Eijiro said with a grinning thumbs up in his direction.

Denki stared at the green-haired teen with a stunned look, "How did the shy guy get so many votes?"

"Better than voting for you, Jamming-whey."

"What's that supposed to mean?!"

Kyoka pointedly ignored the blonde's indignation as she plugged one of her earphone jacks into her phone and played some music, ignoring the rest of the class. She spared a brief glance at Izuku and averted her eyes. He had saved her ass and won the exercise for them. Voting for him was a nice thing to do, right? She sighed softly and closed her eyes.

_I never got to see if he was doing okay._

Himiko grinned widely as she watched Izuku. He definitely got her vote. Though, she did wonder who else had voted for him.

"Why didn't any of you guys vote for me?!" Minoru whined, "Didn't you hear my new policies?! All girls would have had to expose at least thirty centimetres of thigh!"

"That's low, man, even for you," Denki commented with a shrug, "You really need to learn when to stop."

"Yeah, that's disturbing," Hanta added, shaking his head, "No one wants that. Not everyone is horndog like you."

"You should learn some decency before you can even consider running for anything."

Minoru waved his tiny fists in the air with desperation, "Are any of you even real men?!"

"Mineta? Shut up before I give you a detention." Mr. Aizawa got out of his sleeping bag and stood—giving the diminutive boy a sharp glare to shut him up—before turning to the rest of the class, "So then, we have President Midoriya and Vice-President Yaoyorozu, right? Do you two understand your responsibilities? Good."

"Is this seriously for real?" Izuku whispered as he stood at the front of the class, looking like he was at the edge of a panic attack before he managed to calm himself, smiling reassuringly at Eri as she hid behind his leg.

Momo just sighed in disappointment.

"That's all for Homeroom today," Aizawa told them, "Do your best in all your other classes and prepare yourselves for Heroics Training. Now, get out of here. I can't leave until you do."

  


* * *

Izuku was quiet. Contemplating.

He sighed as he poked at his—incredibly sizeable—meal with his fork as he considered everything that happened to him that morning. Having already met with All Might and Detective Tsukauchi during the first half of lunch, he was trying to enjoy his lunch as he mulled over what to do with Eri next. Himiko sat on his right with Eri between them, again. Around them, Tenya, Ochako, Tsuyu, Kyoka and Mina were also enjoying their lunches a lot more than he was.

"What's wrong, Izuku?" Ochako questioned after she swallowed a bite of her lunch, "You look kinda distracted."

Kyoka scrutinised him carefully as well, "No kidding. You look even more out of it than usual. What's up?"

"What? O-Oh, don't worry, I'm fine," Izuku said just a little too quickly, stopping himself from getting lost in his thoughts, "I was just wondering if I really have what it takes to be Class President. I-I'm not sure if I'm really capable of that."

Mina grinned and waved her fork playfully, "Of course you are!"

"I'm certain you'll do fine! You have the bravery and your judgement is impeccable, Midoriya. That's why I voted for you." Tenya admitted.

Izuku gave the bespectacled teen a puzzled look, opening his mouth and closing it with a shake of his head before moving his chin between the crook of his elbow, "Oh, okay, thank you. But still, how did I manage to get seven votes?"

"I assume you voted for yourself, plus Iida's vote makes it two," Tsuyu held up a finger and added more as she counted the names, "I voted for you, so that makes three. Uraraka makes four and Ashido voted for you, too. That's five, ribbit."

"Well, I didn't vote for myself, but I guess—wait, _what_?" Izuku whipped his head up to gape at the two girls sitting opposite of him and his jaw fell open, "You both voted for me?!"

"Yep." Mina snickered and grinned broadly, "It wasn't that hard of a–" Whatever she said next fell on deaf ears as Izuku was no longer listening.

**_Hate._ **

The feeling hit him with the force of a train and it was all he could do to keep himself conscious. He didn't notice when the room was filled the ringing of an alarm, causing everyone at the table to jump. He didn't even notice when an announcement rang over the speakers.

_"SECURITY LEVEL 3 HAS BEEN BREACHED! ALL STUDENTS PLEASE EVACUATE!"_

Izuku was only jerked out of his reverie when he felt another strong emotion, coming from directly next to him. _Eri._

He instinctively pulled Eri into his arms as the entire cafeteria devolved into mass hysteria and students scrambled to get out, many of them going into a panic as a result.

Tenya caught the attention of a nearby upperclassmen, "What's security level three?"

"It means someone's infiltrated the school grounds! This hasn't happened in the three years I've been here! We gotta get out of here!"

That was much easier said than done. Izuku knew there would be no getting out if the crowd kept moving the way it was. His eyes locked onto the windows nearby, spotting a horde of reporters being confronted by Present Mic and Mr. Aizawa. He recognised several of the reporters from when he had arrived earlier.

Izuku narrowed his eyes at the sight. _How did the press get into the school? Does it have something to do with what I felt before?_

He spun around, his mind racing. He had to figure out a way to settle the panicking students. The press was not a cause for alarm and such mass hysteria thing wasn't worth it and would only get someone hurt. He had to stop everyone from stampeding.

Izuku processed all the information he had and finished formulating a plan. He searched the crowd of bodies until his eyes landed on a certain brunette. His heart leapt when he found her and he shouted her name.

"Ochako!"

He wasn't sure if his voice would reach her, but he had to try. Miraculously, the brunette had somehow managed to hear his shout and made her way towards him, followed by their bespectacled classmate. Izuku hadn't noticed him before, but he wasn't complaining. Having him there just made things easier.

"Izuku! Where are the others?" Ochako's expression was panicked and Izuku felt a pang in his heart, but he forced himself to focus.

"I don't know, but I need you to make Iida weightless so he can get to the exit." The blue-haired teen in question looked surprised at the idea.

"Me? But wouldn't you be–" Tenya started to speak, but Izuku interrupted him.

"No, I wouldn't. I can't leave Eri, and you're the only one I can count on to do this. Please."

The pleading in his voice caused Tenya to immediately make up his mind, "Very well, Midoriya! Since you've placed your trust in me, I won't let you down! Uraraka?"

Ochako nodded and pressed her left hand to Tenya's chest, and a feeling of being weightless rushed into him. He had to remind himself not to panic as his feet left the ground, though that didn't stop his heartbeat from accelerating. He took a calming breath as he floated up to the ceiling and used his Quirk to adjust himself in midair and change his direction. Unfortunately, he miscalculated the amount of force he needed to propel himself and ended up crashing into the exit sign over the door.

Tenya shook himself out of his daze and looked down at the crowd of students below him before shouting.

"EVERYONE CALM YOURSELVES! IT'S JUST THE MEDIA! THERE IS NO NEED TO PANIC! THIS TYPE OF BEHAVIOUR IS UNBECOMING OF U.A. STUDENTS! PLEASE EXIT THE CAFETERIA IN A CALM AND ORDERLY MANNER!"

The rest of the students looked over to where he was pointing and many of them sighed in relief when they realised that he was right. Ochako rushed over to Tenya once the area was clear and released her Quirk. He managed to awkwardly land on his feet when he fell.

"That was awesome, Iida!" Ochako said excitedly before turning to Izuku and grinning widely, "That was a pretty great idea, Izuku."

Izuku just smiled bashful at the praise, blushing slightly at the use of his first name. "Y-Yeah, thanks. And, uh, great job, Iida."

"It was no problem, Midoriya!"

  


* * *

Izuku was lost in thought.

He had a lot on his mind nowadays. But before he did anything else, he needed to get his plans for new additions to his hero costume to the Support Department. Now that he thought about it, the pink-haired girl from before was in the Support Course. He blushed slightly when he remembered their meeting. She was an odd one, for sure.

Purely on instinct, Izuku came to a stop moments before colliding with an open door. He blinked in surprise at the sudden motion and he grimaced as he realised what happened. _That could have been painful._

Izuku's vision was suddenly filled with pink.

_Speak of the–_

"Who're–oh! Hey, Izuku! What're you doing here?"

It was Mei again, practically bouncing on her heels as her yellow eyes zoomed in on his face. Izuku recoiled slightly at their sudden closeness, his face burning hotly. He thanked every god he could think of that Eri had taken to Himiko so quickly. He was (only a bit) reluctant to leave her, but he wanted to get this done quickly. Now, he was glad that she couldn't see him struggle to get a single word out.

"O-Oh, I-I, uh, um–"

The words wouldn't come to him no matter how hard he tried. Eventually, Izuku cleared his throat and backed up a bit, "I-I'm here to talk to Power Loader," his response wasn't as as clear as he wanted it to be, but it was good enough, "Is he, uh, here?"

"Oh, sensei? He's out right now, but I can help you! I have lots of babies you could try out! How about it? Hmm? Hmm?!"

_"Izuku.exe has stopped working."_

"Hatsume! Stop pestering the boy."

The pink-haired girl turned towards the source of the voice, leaving Izuku's brain a few seconds to reboot. When he finally managed to get his body to respond, he directed his attention to the hallway where he found Power Loader standing with exasperation plastered on what was visible of his face.

"Power Loader!"

The hero had barely blinked before the green-haired teen was standing before him. "I'm one of your biggest fans! I've al–" Izuku stopped himself mid-way and straightened his back so quickly that the hero thought he heard a crack, "S-Sorry about that. I get overexcited sometimes."

Power Loader sighed and waved him off, "No worries, kid. I doubt that's what you came here for, anyway."

Izuku's posture slackened a bit, "O-Oh, right." He reprimanded himself internally at his absent-mindedness as he handed Power Loader the newly updated design for his hero costume.

"Hmm? You've got new modifications for your costume already?" the support hero said with slight surprise as he studied them with a critical eye.

Izuku fidgeted nervously watching the Pro Hero go over his designs. Anxiously, he wondered whether or not they would be approved. He didn't think there would be a problem, but he'd been wrong before. His costume being destroyed in the explosion was a boon (if he disregarded everything else it caused). If not for that, he wasn't sure when he would get a chance to send in the new additions, few though they might be.

Izuku was startled out of his thoughts by a low sigh. He turned his gaze to Power Loader and a feeling of approval washed over him. He barely managed to suppress the smile that threatened to break out on his face as he felt a surge of pride rise in his chest.

"Well, if you're completely sure about these, then fine, I'll get them done." Power Loader said with a shrug. "But still, you are aware that your costume's currently being repaired, correct? If you want to modify the design, then it's going to take quite a while to finish."

Izuku nodded in understanding, "That's alright! I just wanted to get it over with, you know? In case I forgot."

A lie. He never forgot.

Power Loader merely grunted in response, "Alright, kid. If that's what you want." he said with a sigh as he walked into the support department's main building. The hero paused for a brief moment and addressed Mei without even turning around.

"Go home, Hatsume."

"Never!"

Izuku watched with no small amount of confusion as the pair disappeared into the building before he exited the school grounds.

His eyes remained stuck to the ground and he failed to react before he crashed into a red-haired girl. Reacting quickly, Izuku managed to grab her arm and steady her. Izuku stumbled over his words slightly as he met her eyes.

"Ah, s-sorry, I–" The words died in his throat as he found the girl's emerald green eyes, eerily similar to his, staring intensely at him. He froze at the look she gave him and he felt a sliver of familiarity that took root in his mind and refused to leave.

"Who–"

"You're like me."

Izuku startled slightly at her sudden statement and his mouth opened and closed as he tried to form words that wouldn't come to him. He just stood motionless as she averted her gaze and walked past him, too lost in shock to say anything else. He blinked and turned to call out to her, but thought better of it.

Izuku shook his head and turned to continue on his way. But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get the odd interaction out of his mind.

_Why does she seem so familiar?_

  


* * *

The girl kept walking for a few moments more, then paused and glanced back at the green-haired boy. She leaned against an alley wall and sighed in relief. It was her first time meeting someone who was like her, other than her aunt, and it was absolutely _nerve-wracking_.

It wasn't her first time seeing him by any means, but it _was_ her first time being in such close proximity to him.

She shivered slightly. She could still feel a tingling sensation on her skin from his touch. He was powerful, that much she could easily tell. He was the most powerful she'd ever felt, but it didn't seem like he even knew.

He'd just been leaving U.A. so he couldn't have been much younger than her. She felt a bit of excitement from meeting another like her so close to her own age. She grimaced slightly and her excitement faded a bit when she thought back to their meeting. Crashing into him was not the best way to make an impression, and it was definitely not the one she wanted to make.

On the plus side, now she knew exactly where he went to school.

.... That thought was a lot creepier than she had meant it to be.

She sighed audibly. One day she would have a proper meeting with him. In fact, there was nothing stopping her from turning around and doing so right now....

....

.... Maybe some other day.

She sighed at her own shyness. Those three words she said to him, which barely classified as a sentence, had completely drained her social battery. She wasn't the most outgoing of people to begin with. Meeting him just made that fact all the more obvious.

_"You're like me."_

Why did she say that?! She could have said literally anything else, and yet....

She shook her head, took a deep breath and steeled her resolve. Tomorrow for sure. Tomorrow she would finally talk to him, no excuses. A small smile made its way onto her lips and she felt a swell of confidence as she continued on her way home. She lasted exactly fifteen seconds before she remembered a very important detail.

She didn't even know his name.

  


* * *

Izuku was suspicious.

Himiko was acting off. It was subtle, but still noticeable to him.

Now, granted, it wasn't that he didn't trust Himiko. It was just that sometimes she seemed to forget that he was there for her. That she didn't have to be alone anymore. God knows she deserved more than that. He was both disgusted and furious when he heard how she was treated once people found out about her Quirk. Mankind's cruelty towards their own kind knew no bounds. He was well aware of that fact. But even he hadn't expected a story like that from her of all people.

How anyone could bully a sweet girl like her was hard for him to wrap his head around. She was treated like a monster just because her Quirk shared a few similarities with old myths of vampires and demons. The fact that she came out from all of that as the kind and beautiful girl he knew was truly admirable. If only she didn't have to go through any of it in the first place. The reason that it was like that could be summed up in a single word.

Quirkists.

When Quirks first started to appear, the world was nearly thrust into chaos. Fortunately, it didn't last, and before long, Quirked individuals started to dominate the population and whatever conflicts that had arisen were eventually forgotten. People stopped fearing and hating Quirks, and started to celebrate them as blessings. A gift bestowed upon humanity.

However, as was human nature, some of them took things to the extreme. Their thoughts were flawed and bigoted. They praised Emitter type Quirks as being above everyone else. Transformation Quirks were also praised, but to a much lesser extent. As for Mutant types....

They were ridiculed.

Quirkists saw those with mutant Quirks as freaks and abominations, some even more so than others. That's where Himiko's Quirk came in; a mutant type Quirk that required the user drink blood in order to retain her sanity. The disdain they felt towards her would have been immense. And Quirkist parents tended to raise Quirkist children in most cases, after all.

He hated it.

As someone who'd always been known as Quirkless, which was seen as even less than dirt, he'd had his fair share of run-ins with Quirkists. It was a good thing he healed as fast as he did. If it wasn't for that, he would have had to kiss his dream of being a hero goodbye, along with any others he might have had.

He shuddered at the invasive memories.

So here he was, following (stalking) Himiko after leaving Eri back at his house with his mother. He could only hope that he wouldn't come to regret it later. Eri was still wary of anyone who wasn't him touching her, but at least she allowed his mom to do it. Small victories.

In the back of his mind, he very briefly wondered if he was doing the right thing, but he squashed the thought. _This is not the time to be second guessing myself_ , he reprimanded himself harshly.

Minutes passed in relative silence, and by the time Himiko reached her house, the sun had long since sank below the horizon, having briefly bathed the sky in hues of red and yellow.

Izuku took a deep breath of air, and all around him the shadows seemed to come alive. He stepped closer towards the lonely house and hesitated as he reached the door. Just as he was debating what to do, a faint scent caught his nose. He sniffed several times and deduced that the smell was coming from behind the house.

It took him hardly any time at all to find the source; a small shed located a fair distance away from the house. It wasn't until he was directly in front of the shed that he finally recognised what the smell was.

Blood. Lots of it.

He dreaded to see what was inside, but he had to know.

Taking a deep steadying breath, Izuku pulled on the door handle. It didn't budge, so he pushed.

Locked.

He glanced around the area and confirmed that he was far from any prying eyes (or ears). His eyes shifted to golden-amber and he pressed his hand to the wooden door frame. The wood creaked slightly under his palm and the edges turned discoloured as it rotted away at his command.

It was a new ability he discovered while experimenting with Vita's powers. It turned out that humans weren't the only things he was capable of affecting. Plant life and animals were included too. Though, it was severely limited if the creature or plant was no longer alive. Wood tended to be easier to manage, but it still took quite a while to accomplish anything noteworthy.

Finally, with a dull sound, the hinges gave and Izuku let the door fall.

Two things hit him all at once.

First, was the stench. It was even more horrible now that it wasn't being blocked by the door.

Second, was the sight of all the tools littering the interior. They were piled on top of each other, with most of them covered in spots of rust and dried blood. But even in this type of situation, he could still recognise the scent. It didn't matter how old it was. It didn't matter how little there was.

He would always know the smell of Himiko's blood.

_T̶̝̈̆́ͅh̸͉̦͛é̴͚̣ỷ̸̺̺̖̝͑̊̈́ ̸̳̞̈͂͛͜͝h̷̼̏̇͘͝u̴̡̍r̵̥̰͈̒̀̚ť̷͕ ̷̲̀h̸̢̗͐͋͝ȩ̷̟̦͕̏͝r̴͓͖͠.̵̺̈́̏̑̓_

His fists clenched at his sides, his nails digging into his palms hard enough to nearly draw blood.

_Ḧ̷̱̩̠̬́͝o̴̩̭̬̍̇͑̕ͅw̸͚̠̺̄̑̕͜ ̸̺̗͗d̵͓͇͐͛å̸̫̒͝r̵̡͙̺͌̈́̎ẻ̷̲̮͆̇͝ ̸̤̃̃t̶̝̲̮̅̔͛͝h̷̗̏̋̅̾e̵̡͓̔ͅy̷̛̮̹ ̸̘͔͔̌t̴̖͆̚o̵͕͍̭͔̽͊̒u̸̖̺̻̰͒͂̏̚c̵̡̙̆̄́͝ḩ̷̱͚̈̇̃̕ ̸̗͊h̶̠̬͖̣̑̈ẻ̵͖̝r̵̰̔̉?̷̡͑̅_

His fists unclenched and calmness washed over him. They would pay.

 _Izuku_ stood abruptly and the shadows moved with him. His silver eyes glinted eerily in the dark and a soft sigh left his lips. He ran a hand through his now pitch black hair and smiled lazily, "Let the show begin."

  


* * *

_Izuku_ was waiting patiently.

For what exactly? Well, he wasn't entirely sure, but he'd find out when the time came. He watched with a slight smile on his face as the shadows were twisted and morphed by his will. He twisted them into various shapes; a book, a glove, a watch, a knife, a gun, blood spatter. His eyelids drooped lazily and he reclined further into his chair.

 _Izuku_ flicked his silvery gaze to the door as he rapped his fingertips against the arm of the chair. Something pushed up against his leg and he directed his eyes to the floor, catching sight of a shadowy and vaguely dog-like creature crouched beside him.

"When did I make you?" he wondered idly, stroking the inky blackness of the creature's mane. He shrugged it off and stopped thinking about it. It was his first time in control and he wasn't going to waste it. He'd get all of his powers under control soon enough.

Speaking of which, he turned his gaze to the corridor, his gaze piercing through the darkness. There was a single door at the end, locked from what he could tell. It was Himiko's room, he knew. His hand clenched into a fist as he recalled what he had seen.

The room wasn't as bad as the shed. Though, the only real difference was the distinct lack of blood, but they could never truly get rid of the scent.

The frown on his face twisted his otherwise tranquil expression into a slight sneer. His ma– _no_ , he was not going to imitate that vile _abomination_. Sighing deeply, the dark-haired teen stood from his seat and walked to the source of his inner turmoil.

"No interruptions." he murmured, and felt the shadows respond to his will, forming grotesque abominations and coiling like a snake ready to strike. Unbidden, a slight smile made its way onto his lips.

Empty.

That was the first word that came to mind when _Izuku_ saw the interior of Himiko's room. Empty and completely devoid of life. He wouldn't have thought anyone even used the room if he hadn't already sensed her.

Speaking of his friend....

His eyes scanned over her prone body as he checked her for any injuries. Finding none, he allowed himself to relax, if only slightly. It was bad enough that she was enduring so much hurt without his knowledge. He didn't want her to be in pain any longer.

His gaze suddenly snapped to the side as he was alerted by his shadows. Darkness encroached on the corners of his vision and he saw the outside for a brief moment. But it was more than enough.

 _Izuku_ smiled slowly as he gave an order, "Immobilise."

The sounds of a very brief struggle echoed for a single moment before the house went silent again. _Izuku_ gave Himiko one last glance and quietly closed the door behind him. He ensured that his footsteps were loud enough to be heard despite his leisurely pace.

"Will you walk into my parlour?" said the spider to the fly; 'Tis the prettiest little parlour that ever you did spy," the words flowed smoothly from his lips, his tone matched by the dramatic smile on his face, "The way into my parlour is up a winding stair, and I have many pretty things to show when you are there."

He took notice of their quickened pulses. They were scared. Very much so.

"Hello there." The cheerfulness in his voice wasn't entirely faked, he supposed. He dismissed the thought as soon as it arrived. His guests required his full attention.

"I know you're probably trying to figure who I am," he paused for a moment, "You won't be able to, but you can still try. I won't stop you."

 _Izuku_ undid the paralysis on their mouths and sat in a chair in front of them so they could be face to face. "You have a daughter, yes?"

Both parents stubbornly remained silent and he sighed before standing and making his way directly in front of them. "Okay, let's try this again," he said as he peered into the woman's eyes, his own silver orbs twinkling, "Would you kindly tell me your name?"

Her limbs immediately slackened and her eyes glazed over, "Tomiko Toga." she answered robotically. The emptiness in her voice unnerved her husband, but there was nothing he could do. He couldn't even move a muscle.

 _Izuku_ smiled ever so slightly. "That wasn't so hard, now was it?" He gave the man a sidelong glance before reclaiming his seat, "Okay, Tomiko, next question.... why did you do it?"

"I don't understand."

"Of course you don't."

 _Izuku_ sighed deeply and mulled over how to clearly articulate the words on his mind, "I'm wondering why you did what you did to your own daughter. I can't understand it."

Tomiko remained quiet for a moment, "She is no daughter of mine." her tone could have been venomous if it weren't for the fact that it held no emotion.

 _Izuku_ furrowed his brows and rested his head into the palm of his right hand. He tapped his fingers against his temples absentmindedly as he lost himself in thought. His head lolled slightly to the side and his breathing slowed, "So, you're saying that you don't see her as your child, correct?"

"Correct."

 _Izuku_ suddenly jolted upright, shaking his head slowly, "No, that isn't going to work. You can–"

His movements froze and he blinked rapidly as his eyes shifted from silver to green and then back again. "Oh, okay, wow. I don't have much time left, it seems." he muttered distractedly.

"Alright, last question," _Izuku_ pressed his palm into his eyes and rubbed gently, "Do you deserve to live?"

"I.... don't know."

Disappointing, but not unexpected. _Izuku_ sighed again and reclined in his seat, balancing the chair on its two back legs. He was silent for a while as he tried to remain in control for as long as possible. After a few moments more, he opened his mouth to speak again.

"Let me rephrase that, then."

"After all that you've done to Himiko, I want to know what you think about yourself," _Izuku_ said with a thin smile on his lips, "So.... do you. Deserve. To live? Answer quickly."

"Yes."

 _No hesitation_ , _Izuku_ mused idly. Out loud, he said, "Oh? And why, pray tell, is that so?"

Tomiko spoke with an almost venomous tone once again, "Because I'm the only one who can stop that _thing_ from killing anyone."

 _Izuku_ frowned slightly as he spoke, "No one truly has the right to take your life, so I agree with your first assessment, in a way. Not that it really matters to me. Right and wrong, good and evil.... I couldn't care less if I wanted to."

He turned his attention to the father to ask the same question, "And I suppose you believe the same?"

"I do."

"Well, isn't that something? Anyway, my time's up, so...." _Izuku_ trailed off as he started thinking, "You know what? I think I'll leave you with a final parting gift. Something to remember me by."

His eyes shone with an ominous light, boring into the two adults like the hungry gaze of a predator on the prowl.... and he grinned wolfishly.

"I do hope you like it."

  


* * *

_Izuku_ walked out of the house with a small smirk on his lips, "At last, up jumped the cunning Spider, and fiercely held her fast. He dragged her up his winding stair, into his dismal den," he paused for a moment, taking in the night air, "Within his little parlour—but she ne'er came out again...."

He stopped briefly when he came upon a tangled mess of feathers on the ground. He tilted his head in curiosity as he studied the broken raven laying on the pavement. The bird's ruined wings twitched ever so slightly as it struggled in vain to stay alive. He watched for a few moments more as the raven's struggles died down.

 _Izuku_ smiled faintly and cupped his palms underneath the small avian's broken body, "You are quite the fighter, aren't you?" he whispered fondly, impressed by the small creature's resilience, "It seems that life has dealt you a cruel hand, my feathered friend. Perhaps in death, I could grant you a better one?"

The darkness twisted to his command and swallowed the bird in a cocoon of shadows, mending its wounds and changing its very being. As the darkness melted away, it left behind in its wake a nightmarish creature made from a perfect mixture of shadows and flesh and blood. Its ghoulish red eyes stared unblinkingly into his own silver orbs and he smiled, raising the raven to his eye level.

"Now, what should I call you?" _Izuku_ hummed to himself in thought, then inspiration struck and his mouth stretched into an easy smile, "That'll do just fine."

There was pride in his voice as he ran a finger along his new companion's spine, smoothing the feathers there absentmindedly.

"Your name.... is Redlight."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Personality: Achluo - 006**
> 
> **Eye Colour: Silver**
> 
> **Power/s: Darkness Manipulation. (?). Reanimation. Hypnosis. (?).**
> 
> **Class: Omega**
> 
> **Resistance: H̶i̶g̶h̶ Low (?)**
> 
> See you all next chapter in a few weeks or so, if I'm not dead.
> 
> Later alligators.
> 
> ~ Sloth


End file.
